Congratulations on making a move on your dream!  

I should have clarified.  80% is my max, because I am willing to leave a little cash in the deal. 70% would be ideal, and quite honestly a dream come true.

Days on the market are like acid to your asking price, so don't hold out for some dream Bay Area Buyer who's going to pay you all-cash and 40% more than your home is worth.

if there was not failure by landlords in a significant way there would not be hardly any properties to buy.. they would all be performing and ginning along just fine.. since they are not building any new ones.. its just recycle the old inventory from burnt out landlords who give up their dream of thinking low end rentals is financial freedom.Nicer assets while no immune have so much better chance of treating the landlord right over the course of the years.. better tenants more stability..  

I come from a family of Entrepreneurs, I learned early on that working for someone was not going to make my dreams of financial freedome come true.

I work and live in NJ, within an hour of NYC, and I'm looking here - markets that are commutable into NYC are obviously especially attractive, but do your research.As someone who is personally guilty of analysis paralysis, there are more free resources out there than you can possibly dream of extinguishing.

Seems like you bought your dream house and not a good cash flow rental property.

Our dream property is a brownstone 4-plex that borders Powderhorn Park.

I now live in a small town in Northern New Jersey and after months of internal debate, I think its time.I'm here on BP to learn about real estate (specifically Rental Properties), to meet new people, and to have a chance to live the life that I dreamed of when I was a kid going to baseball games with my uncle on a weekday because he didn't have to be stuck in an office for work. 

If you do not have a specific goal or dream in mind, then its going to be pretty hard to plan for it.