You wouldn't buy a long term rental with 20% down in NYC or San Francisco and expect it to cash flow.

A seller will favor an offer a lot more if it's a quick escrow with little to no contingencies versus a long escrow and multiple appraisal and loan contingencies.

But I’ve come to realize in order to maximize the tax benefits and long-term earnings.

(full disclosure-I knew the guy, or know him, he's not dead just gone from the auctions and haven't talked to him in a few years, but he was always nice to me and I don't have a clue as to the validity of the federal charges against him, but he always treated me decently and I've got nothing bad to say about him and I know other landlords who've been demonized and slurred as slumlords when I think they simply bit off more than they can chew, while other real slumlords seem to operate for years, as long as they don't get too big) He used to kind of dominate those auctions and maybe that was a good thing, as I'm sure there's a whole cast of characters who've filed that void.Thing is, ANY property under $100k, maybe even under $150k or $200k will certainly have multiple bidders, there are a LOT of people like me when I'm looking, who have the subscription to the sheriff's sales info reports from the Daily Reporter ($600/year and you get the results emailed to you in an Excel spreadsheet on Tues, next weeks auctions emailed on Thurs) and another good indicator is I'm on an email list for one of the firms (actually out of Chicago) which handles a tiny, tiny fraction of the cases and I've looked at the "cc list" or whatever you'd call it if ALL the addresses that email is sent to and there are HUNDREDS of them on there and this is for I think Johnson Blumberg, who many weeks don't even have any cases in MKE or Waukesha Cty.

Purchase price: $726,000 Cash invested: $1,300,000 Sale price: $4,500,000 We are developing a 4 story a luxury Duplex.Property is primed for short term rentals with conservative estimates of ($40,000-$50,000) per month.

We are property managers, so we often get these types of questions.

I agree and we are going with the financing. 

as long as you don't need the income to qualify for the primary loan, you're fine. 

I'm open to this but would like to charge a monthly pet fee or a one time fee (per a year long lease). 

Hello there,I am a first time "out of town" investor, looking into Pittsburgh's Metropolitan for my first deal.I focused mainly on Allegheny county mostly, but having a bit hard time focusing on one specific area.My strategy is to purchase a property for long term rentals.I was hoping to get some insights into attractive areas for first timers such as myself, with good prospects and at reasonable costs?