Upfront expenses and monthly payments must be considered when calculating the return on your investment.EXAMPLEYou cash out $100,000 of your equity and use this as a down payment on a $400,000 investment property.

Background on me: I need to obtain a graduate degree for promotion at work, but it can be in any field at low-no cost to myself.

@Tyler Garza With my CFO clients, I generally use 8% vacancy and 25%-35% operating expenses depending on if they are self-managing or using a PMC. 

And @Jesse Rivera, I did not know there was a low-doc or bank statement HELOC. 

There is a designer sofa bed in the living room with a queen bed with a comfortable mattress in it and it was pretty expensive.

Are these high/low?

Then get into flips to generate more capital to dump back into rentals.Before considering mentorship, I think you should consume a lot of free/low cost content out there on flipping to see if it's a good fit for you.

Be sure you are speaking with a good management company and find out if you are looking at houses at that price if they are in areas that are low turn over and low theft.

You sell after 12 months and take no depreciation expense in the first year.  

This seems to follow the general overall trend of lower cost areas winning at the expense of those with a high costs of living.