I just closed on a house from Auction.com here in Cedar Rapids.  

Grand Rapids is an exciting market to get involved with!  

I realize that this isn't great considering that I have maintenance costs, etc, but rent is appreciating rapidly in the neighborhood and I expect to raise it to $2450-2500 by next year and $2600-2700 the year after.Our new home:- We had access to a HELOC at Prime (3.5% at the time) and bought a home in the Gilead Ridge neighborhood in Huntersville.  

My goal is to purchase my first property in 2017, focusing in Grand Rapids MI. 

So the mortgage, taxes/insurance, and all general costs of operations are covered entirely by the renters, PLUS I typically add about $50 a month to the principal payment of each mortgage, which leaves me with $4300 in passive income.In my opinion, inflation rates are extremely understated, please see these two articles that drive the point home:http://www.businessinsider.com/if-people-knew-the-...https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-05-09/devonshi...Essentially, in times when the dollar is depreciating rapidly, in our situation due to excessive years of "easy money" and quantitative easing by the Fed, low fixed-rate debt is the best tool to combat inflation.

There are suburbs around me that have expanded rapidly with new housing developments in dire need of medical facilities like urgent care and commercial retail, etc…vs driving to the city.

A big part of the rapid growth is being connected to these amazing people and being able to leap frog everyone else by knowing what to do vs. not do. 

Even further, the buyer was asked to absorb "rapid appraisal" extra costs following the inspections to insure the property still appraises for the loan value. 

Luckily, I found the most amazing cleaner to sub-contract, but as my business grows rapidly, she won't be able to cover more than two properties in one day between check-out and check-in times. 

In my case, my in-laws live in Grand Rapids and have been a huge help (along with my agent).