(It can be cheap beer, PBR, Milwaukee's Best.

I notice a lot of newbies like myself seem to be interested in condo rentals (maybe because they're cheap and you don't need a lot of cash to put down the 20%).

Now, coming up with 20% for a conventional mortgage is a little tough, so I'm focusing on relatively cheap stuff (I know there are other options, but for now I'm trying to evaluate how far I can get with conventional).While talking to a friend, I had an "aha" moment - and please tell me if this is stupid/illegal.

Back that time we couldn't find anything we liked, and this was cheap enough that we could spend a little extra to make it comfortable for us.

They were so cheap I could fund them myself. 1) You can get bank loans or loans from traditional lenders like mortgage companies but that is extremely tough to do right now and usually requires substantial down payment. 2) There are Hard money lenders- high interest loans for investors - usually will require a down payment and some of your own funds.3) Some people use money partners.

We are slowly taking all carpets out and replacing with either click laminate / cheap wood veneer vinyl for low-mid and really high grade vinyl for upper level rents but we still have alot of salvageable carpet left so we'll need to be at mercy of steam for another couple years anyway.

Meaning light renovations at best.From what I've read, these funds are only looking to produce 6-8%, as they can borrow at ridiculously cheap rates; easy to see why they're bidding prices well away from the average small investor.

I rent for the minimum just to avoid land-lording per se.They get the cheap rent just to maintain the property.

I had two properties that were going vacant at the same timeone was a dead beat tenant that I had to evict after she only paid two months rent.the other was on a house that I basically just put someone in to keep a person in the house to make sure it was occupied and wouldnt be vandalized.I have a dedicated contractor who will do good work for cheap but he was unavailable and i was cash poor. it looked like I may have had to just let the properties sit until I could come up with more money.then I got an idea rent the place as istake off the money I would have paid my contractor to do some of the work and get a handyman or licensed trade skill type guy.

Insurance for vacant land is very cheap as well (last I heard, it was something to the tune of $20 per year, per parcel - depending on how many properties are included under one policy).