In the last 18 months, my partner and I have bought 4 properties (24 units) in Fargo, ND or Moorhead, MN ("twin" cities).  In my initial financial models, I was using 10% of gross rents as an estimate of ongoing maint...

If I were mentoring you I would tell you to buy the largest owner occupant property (and by large I mean in units) and borrow as much $ as you can to do so in which the numbers make sense and you can afford to pay the rent if one of your units goes vacant.

All four of the largest Texas cities have that some a bit better than others but certainly no need to panic.  

Realty Shares has bragging rights with one of the largest volume of new investments in the industry (19 during our 30 day monitoring period, versus the average of 1).

We are not a little guy, might even call us one of the largest in town.The frustrationn I'm hearing from everyone is real. 

You don't have to do ANY work for it other than cash the checks.Now, try to find a property where, if you invest that same $200k, your total annual returns (cash flow, equity from paying off a mortgage, appreciation) gets you AT LEAST $12,000 and compensates you for any headaches related to managing a rental property.It's gonna be really hard for you to find that in Oceanside.The point is to think about this potential rental investment compared to all other investment opportunities available to you ... then pick the one with the largest total return that matches your desired life style.

These guys wrote the book on buying MHP's, have very sound business and management guidance, and are some of the largest park owners in the country.http://www.mobilehomeuniversity.com/mobile-home-pa...Yes these are expensive, and they are also worth every penny.  

It filled 2 of the largest storage units up to the ceiling and all the way to the door.

If your looking directly at certain markets reach out to the closest Home depot pro desk and see who their largest customers are.

Finally, I had the idea to take out credit against my house but then realized that probably means re-creating a loan, basically, including her financial situation.So now I'm back to the drawing board (working my *** off to try to save cash to buy these properties).