Basing purchasing decisions off a current cap rate makes little or no sense to me (would appreciate being corrected).

Read/consume, but eventually you have to make a decision and stick to it.

Hi Joseph,Timing the market is very difficult to do and you are better off making decisions off current numbers rather than expected ones.

Every time I hear people complain about getting an very large "assessment" from the HOA, it is because they bought a unit with a poorly managed and underfunded HOA. 

I'm looking at investing in a duplex or triplex in Allentown ($120-$160K) and struggling to make some decisions...I only have about $18K available in cash, so I've come up with 2 options. 1.

I just read and enjoyed Paul Moore's "The Perfect Investment" (re: multifamily buildings), and also finished "Rich Dad, Poor Dad," which I thought was just so so.

., @Jan HalaszThank you for the advice, it was VERY helpful in my decision and I'm maturing as a landlord because of it.

However it is an investment that may require you to be more hands on to insure the decisions made affect your return in a positive way .  

I have had a poor experience with commercial brokers in two different areas of NJ, both on the sales and leasing side.

But I've hopefully done two thing: first, shown you how you need to run the numbers to make the best decision and second, given you some stuff to think about to consider how to get from where you are to where you want to be.Scenario 2Keep your primary home your primary home and save up to buy a rental property, either with conventional 20% down financing, a partnership, hard money BRRRR, etc.Scenario 3Not recommended.