The owner/seller/vender takes a mortgage on a property in which they are also the vender.Rent-to-own can mean a variety of things:At one end of the spectrum you have a standard Lease (rent) with a separate Option to purchase (own) the property at a pre-determined price within a specific window in the future.  

The long and short of it, I know IT, programming, accounting, but the futures business I'm not an expert at.Project Management in real estate can be just as broad.

So let's say 10,000 sq ft and market vacancy of 5% so 500 foot.9,500 sq ft X 25 a foot = 237,500 NOISay they are 10 year primary leases with 10% increases every 5 years.Leasing commissions are 4% say for example:250,000 X 5 years = 1,250,000 X .04 = 50,000 LC first 5 years250,000 X .10 percent increase in rent years 6 to 10 = 275,000 X 5 years = 1,375,000 X .04 = 55,000 in LCTotal leasing commissions paid at time of leasing 105,000Legal and site work say 500,0001,250,000+350,000+ 105,000 + 500,000 = 2,205,000 all in3,600,000 is about a 6.6 cap rate for resale3,600,000 X .06 = 216,000 broker resale commissions100,000 legal costs to close and providing owners title policy to buyerSo 2,505,000 all in - 3,600,000 = About 1,095,000 profit If you are getting 10 to 12 rent per sq ft only for a new build with construction and labor costs the project does not pencil.Again this is just  a broad example.

A broad spectrum of experiences, from newbies to people who have raised 10s of millions.

Excellent advice from Patrick B ,you're question is too broad, you need to narrow down to block and streetTo get a better opinion but in general around the CM is revitalizing pretty quickly, up around BT is high end .East of i65 is still kinda scary (imo) but prices are moving up there really fast also so...I got a house close to CM and am pretty happy but it's early days yet.

The prestige locations would include areas like Church Hill (near Broad), the Fan, and Museum district to name a few.

- anything from 4.5% to 9%, anything from 0 to 4 points, anything from 3/1 ARM to 30YF, and it's up to you where in that spectrum you fall more than anything else.

Hi Guys,I know this may be very broad question - I'm interested to hear how folks got into their first RE deal and how much cash they started with....I live in NYC and getting in RE here can be very expensive here especially if you don't have enough capital.

Servicing itself is defined broadly in some states and narrowly in others. 

If you are nearby my area, we can meet in person.Lastly, I have a few questions that I hope some of you can answer :(1) Is my location/criteria above too narrow or too broad ?