@Laila Ea Looks like several of your expenses are under-estimated, vacancy should be about 8% to give you 1 month of rent saved up each year, CapX of 5% seems low, typically that would be around 10%, and management of 4% is definitely low, usually companies charge you around 10%.

So options 2 or 3 are appealing in that sense, but I am trying to figure out if either of those would make sense given that the monthly payment would go from $1,450 to probably around $3K or more, making it a) hard to afford and b) even harder to save/grow our portfolio.

Point is, how much would I realistically need to save up to acquire my first rental property?

PITI: $1,200.5% Down Payment of $163,000 Purchase Price.Property Appraised for $190,000 right out the gate.Originally paid Gas/Water for both units and electric for 1 side, but am in process of switching electric over to new tenant, which should save $140-160/mo.

FHA 3.5% Sales Price Cash After closing fees $305,000.00 $15,000.00 $430,000.00 $127,000.00 Monthly PITI Average 4 Bedroom Rent Realized Rent Savings 2.5 Years Repair Cost $2,500.00 $2,800.00 $9,000.00 $27,500.00 Total Money Invested (Repair Cost+Downpayment)-Rent Savings ROI: Gains from investment-Cost/Cost $33,500.00 280%

Thinking I could save money by doing everything myself.

I’ve always had a good grasp on saving money but never knew where I wanted to put it.

He recently purchase a nissan tundra because he said it saves him money on picking up materials and quotes from general contractor.

However, if your profit (the difference between your adjusted cost basis and net sales price) is greater than $345K then you would have some tax savings. 

@Adam Zach, @Carmen Lewis My understanding they will need to save for a down payment.