You will need to come up with the down payment (lenders want you to have skin in the game). 

I've kind of been an island this past year in terms of market research and I'd love to start comparing data with fellow investors. Anyone else in the Baltimore County area who wants to collaborate please give me a shout.

Some people just care about cash-flow because it lets them reload to buy their next property.

However, I would recommend to add 5% of your rental income to keep aside for taking care of vacancy.

@Bryan ZuetelI find it that most investor's will not care whether the fund pay's the California LLC Franchise tax.

careful..

I’d be careful about a partnership of all newbies.

The downpayment will be financed by a private lender.Mortgage Payments: -$350 to private lender ($60,000 at 7%)-$495 to seller (170,000 at 3.5% interest only)Monthly CostsProperty Taxes: $833Sewer: $100Insurance: $120Lawn Care/Snow Removal: $100CapEx: $100 (new roof, windows, everything is in good shape)Vacancy (5%): $150Repairs (5%): $150Total: $2,398.17Monthly Rent: $3,000Monthly Cashflow: $601.83I am still unsure of how to approach the tenant who is paying $1,800 instead of the written lease terms of $2,200.

Then there are closing costs.Its probably would be a good idea to have a small reserve to take care of unforeseen things.

I'm not sure why it would cause issues with the tenants, they're usually not reading the meters (or know how to read them/care to)...the meter-reader is.