Just play with the numbers to find an interest rate, length of loan, and purchase price that would work for you and the seller.

Or - invest elsewhere.I ended up investing about an hour outside of the city in a smaller town that has a stable population and am doing a cash flow play instead of property appreciation play.

DTI is going to play into it using conventional financing, which is why you hit the wall.

(as I sit at my laptop while I watch my kids play in the family room)

Aka kinda play it safe in a way where there won't be a huge lose if there is but won't be massive profits either.

, but i ran the numbers and after that it didn't look so appealing, and if you were to factor in capital gains and other fun government taxes, well, i don't think it's a good option, and there are for sure better ways to exit.The numbers play out like this (not considering taxes, capital gains, and other factors, i was just trying to play around with the idea and keep it simple for the start):Your NOI: ($119,160 + $30,000)  - $70,000 = $79,160 or $2638.67 per year for 30 years and $219.89 per month for 30 years when you factor in the 30% down into it ($137 per month for 30 years)Cap Rate: 2633/70,000 = 3.76% per year for 30 yearsCash flow: $331 per month for 30 years but only $137 of that would be profitROI: 2.33% without the 30% down factored into it (3.76% with the 30% down factored into the calculation)Total ROI = $79,000/$70,000 = 112.86% over the course of 30 yearsConclusion:Well, from what i see here, the problem is the interest rate used.

While it may be true that schools aren't very good in that district, when compared with a GoodSchools.com rating in the rest of Richmond city (surrounding counties are a different story) there isn't much of a statistical difference in quality anywhere inside the city limits which levels the playing field a bit.So that brings it down to whether a potential investor is comfortable landlording in Barton Heights.

I'm a new investor with some cash to play with.

Definitely a creative approach, and sounds like it's going to play out well.

(as there are every where) You would just need to spend a good amount of time really learning the area and being comfortable with all the forces at play where you eventually decide to pull the trigger.