Income limits were much higher than I thought they would be, and my son used this program and came to closing with only $11 last summer on a nice 3/2 SFR in a great area.

Probably have to wait till summer to do this though since I also need to line the chimney and I don't think taking out the current heating system in January would make my tenants very happy.

So this summer I bought an investment property with cash.

These units are 2 bedroom, 1 bath, non furnished with brand new everything inside (everything was redone and rebuilt this past summer before I bought it).

Although I became a member this past summer, I didn’t have a whole lot of time to really start researching until now….so far I am overwhelmed with the information…in a good way.As a quick background about me, I am a 42 year old married mother of two, living in Buffalo, NY.

The upstairs has 3 rooms that I can rent out during the summers as the village it is situated in is on the famous "Coast to Coast" walk.

Watch your maintenance expences, do what is necessary, but schedule maintenance so that any larger expense does not hit you in one year as hard and bring the income down just prior to any laon maturity.If I had units where I paid utilities, I'd have a fixed thermostate for winter/summer settings, but I never got myself in that situation to begin with (make sure you can do that in your area).You can go back to your lender before a loan matures.

Then subtract your repairs and holding costs (you say around $5k but I'd recommend doubling that - things are always twice as expensive as you'd hope - plus holding till summer will cost ya).

I just separated the Air Force last summer to be closer to my real estate investing market and pursue some other opportunities.

All the details (including the financials) are on my blog...But the short story is, I received a call last summer from an agent who basically said, "My son's house is going to foreclosure next week, is listed as a short sale and we need an offer to stop the foreclosure auction.