I believe the appraiser was biased, the house needed a real good cleaning to be habitable, but it definitely wasn't a C-5.

Positive cash flow is vital if you are planning to grow your portfolio and obtain wealth through real estate investing.

Buying rental properties is a skill and even habit you develop over time. 

Tenant screening is vital.

@Nick Bleser I would keep it month to month until you get to know them and their habits better.

Do the cosmetics and definitely make sure it's habitable so you don't get into any trouble in the future.

@Travis Cannon my other recommendation is while BP is great and offers amazing value on their books, if all you have to invest is $1500 and you’re spending $80 on books before you’ve listened to every free podcast or webinar you have, then you need to re-evaluate your spending habits.

And he may have been doing it that way for so long that he considers it a good habit that's hard to break :)

In more affluent areas a small rise in the cost of living, of say 2%, would not necessarily change anyone's buying habits.

Technically just need one credit card to run the business but can't deny the benefit of having a Home Depot card (or Lowe's etc.)Side point: Having more credit cards can sometimes help the credit score, if one is responsible to his/her spending habit.