For the property I purchase, I’d like to keep my monthly mortgage payments at $2,000 or less.I prefer a turn-key property since this is my first rental, and I want to start generating monthly cash flow immediately without the delay of repairs or managing two mortgages.

is that a combination of larger down payments + paydown over the past few years? 

QB really is not made well for landlords and landlords leave QB every day for better software, payment processing is really expensive, and with QB there's no tenant portal for your tenants to schedule payments or push maintenance requests. 

You end up having to sell to someone with higher down payments, better credit, better operating plan, and 100% investors who never want to pay top prices.  

Deduct NEW property taxes after you buyDeduct home insurance costsDeduct maintenance percentage, typically 10%Deduct vacancy+tenant nonperformance percentage(we recommend 5% for Class A, 10% Class B, 20% Class C, good luck with Class D)Deduct whatever dollar/percentage of cashflow you wantNow, what you have left over is the amount for debt service.Enter it into a mortgage calculator, with current interest rate for an investment property, to determine your maximum mortgage amount.Divide the mortgage amount by either 75% or 80%, depending on the required down payment percentage - this is your tentative price to offer.If the property needs repairs, you'll want to deduct 110%-120% of the estimated repairs from this amount.Be sure to also research the ARV and make sure it's 10-20% higher than your tentative purchase price.As long as the ARV checks out, this is the purchase price to offer.It is probably significantly below the asking price.

I cash flow them to buyers on lease options with a hefty option payment up front to me.

They have failed to renew my entities with the Secretaries of State multiple times, have billed me wrong amounts, and GREATEST OF ALL, have cost my business ~$50K in cumulative TAX PENALTIES due to negligence in filing for a tax extension, failing to walk me through my tax filings and needed payments, and failing to file an abatement promptly.

You'll likely need a higher down payment if you can find anyone willing to finance something like this as a first time investor; many require some level of rehab experience at the very least.

Ability to repay - can you as the borrower afford the payments based on the loan amount.Typically they will not take into consideration the mortgage on a new property that has not been taken out as that is new.

@Tonya EnglishWithout a clear understanding of what this company does (or more accurately, does not do), the payment seems excessive compared to other services in the market."