I also own a cabin up in the mountains north of Phoenix and am considering doing short-term AirBNB rentals with it.My goals are to build up a small portfolio of multi-family units in the Phoenix area to supplement my income.

Class-action suit aims to halt Zestimates in Illinois

I'm aiming to flip homes or buy and hold within the Chicagoland area as well as in SW Florida. 

Best to identify exactly what you are hoping to achieve - supplement or replace income, how much, etc. 

I'm excited about real estate investing and am glad to be sharing this much of the journey, this early in the journey.I started real estate investing back in January of this year, with an eye towards buy and hold, aiming to acquire one SFR rental each quarter.  

In these numbers I don't talk about appreciation or principal pay down because I am buying and holding these, and aiming for solid cash flows with strong tenant quality. 

Over the years I have always supplemented my income even when I made a very low day job salary at a full time job.

I think Russel's advice of targeting a $150K+ spread is a more likely scenario to aim for.  

This will avoid the risk of losing a tenant over a rent increase and regardless of how good your tenant is it is poor business practice to supplement a tenants rent.It is not good business to not raise the rent as not only are you supplementing a tenants rent you are also devaluing the resale of your property.Research your local rental market adds and put your rent at market for the size and location of your property.

This is at 20% downpay using a standard 30-year finance through a local bank.So our question right now: are we aiming too low?