Buy something where you can do a quick, but good flip, and get it finished well ahead of the market slow down for the fall.

Say you have $500k in capital improvements to get there, then go ahead and offer a bit under a million for it.

So net, as a family unit, economically the investor says they are $86k - $62.5k = $23.5k ahead.

As others said, do your homework ahead of time.  

Keep that in mind and realize it ahead of time, understanding this won't solve the problem but it will help you deal with it.You have made a great start.

Most lenders will give you an amortization schedule ahead of closing.

You could meet some interesting people like that too....Note - I'm not recommending this for everyone, it may not even be legal, but it's a good way to get ahead of people trying to call their Realtors to see the place.....I could see it and make an offer before their Realtor even returned their call.... 

When I purchased I went ahead and imrpoved some of the exterior, new flooring, appliances, etc.

Your equity will build up 3 times faster and you will end up cash flowing more as well.Yes ^^^.....also if you buy now while rates are still low and pay off with inflated money (inflation is rising quickly) you will be ahead of the game.... 

Far ahead of what most first time landlords start out with!