My wife and I are looking at the mid-west to start investing (Ohio, Wisconsin, Indiana, Pennsylvania or Kentucky) My question are in the models I am running I am losing money on deals or barely breaking even.

No one wants to pay more for something they have enjoyed at a discount no matter how much improvement has occurred.Basically you need to keep this sort of rental as a month to month deal.This is very important because the tenant is a short term tenant.They are usuallly too smart for their own good. if they are clever enoughto spot the advantage to this situation they think they are clever enough toget more from you than you are willing to give.They will end up problematic in the long term. but in the short term they work out really well.Keep them to 6 months maximum.especially when you go to increase the rent after the renovations are complete.To me the good out weighs the bad when you are in a cash strapped positionI have employed this strategy four times.I have found that at bare minimum I have managed to pick up a few thousand to put toward a renovation.I never found a great tenant that I would want a long relationship with.I managed to improve two properties using this methodand I will use it again.this is what I have learned.Do get people who know a thing or two about building houses.always be there to inspect anything you let them do.let them know that you will be around to inspect the jobduring and after its completiongo over all of your details prior.Never let them do any repairs without your consent.let them know this will be grounds for immediate eviction.Always set time tablesnever never make promises about what you will donever make statements about you want to donever make statements about what you wish to do.keep the lease to a month to monthor 6months at a maximum.Do attach a rider to your lease thatreleases you from any liability in case they get injured on premises.Thats all people.this is an emergency solution not the ideal solution.I am not recommending this as a first course measure.but in those situations where you may have thought about leaving a property vacant until you can get around to fixing it up

A few months ago, I had a couple of property managers take a look at my home just to see what they were asking for managing, as well as finding out how much the market could bare.

We are at about $100+ cash flow on the place...barely break even without any big issues.I'm considering selling it and picking up a multifamily unit closer to us (Hershey) with better cash flow.

I'm going through the podcasts quickly and just barely starting to put together my marketing strategyI Iook forward to learning as much as I can with the help of this site and it's members and to working alongside other locals.

What I mean to say is that the existing NOI barely makes enough to cover his debt service which is around 4500 per month.

You may even want to hire a note consultant to advise you.Here are some bare minimums:* Good down payment - at least 10%, preferably 15-20%* Healthy interest rate - at least 8%* If you want to put a balloon feature in, make it 7-10 years out* When you assess the borrower, pull their credit report and keep it with your file* Use a note servicer to establish a verifiable record of the timeliness of the payment history (or keep meticulous records yourself with copies of all checks)I thought this below was a good read, and I basically plagiarized the above from it.

Bare with me - a quick story not about cars but real estate.Ok so I recently bought a car "long distance".

I essentially want to be able to sell my purchase for more than I bought it for, but I don't want to tie up so much of money that I am barely getting by after my monthly payment.

Prices barely dropped during the crisis and are already well above that for most locations.