to give some feedback, you will need to estimate the cost to repair the house; if you don't know how to do that, we just need some  information of what the house needs and the sqft of the propertyIf the house is, as an example, 2500 sqft, and It looks like you are stuck in time back in the 1980s, but the AC is working,  the roof is ok, and there are no foundation, plumbing, or electrical issues; I can assume maybe a $20 per sqft, so the rehab is about $50K to 60KIf the ARV is 290K minus 10% closing/holding costs, - minus 20% profit - $50K rehab, ideally, in this example, I need to buy the house for about $150K to flip it, but as a landlord, I may be able to pay a bit more, as long as rehab is not too much, and rental is about $3,000 to $3,500 a month

I buy desirable properties in desirable areas.

Or buy some tests.

As you are pointing out - the expenses will all hit at some point if you own for long enough.If you buy a house that needs a new roof and a new furnace within a year... then you need to budget for those expenses in a year. 

Hello Arnold, I personally used my 401k to buy my home back in 2017 so I know from experience its a pretty easy process.

Investment Info:Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

I will have to provide and buy all the finishing (cabinets, countertops, tile, flooring, etc), but they demo and install everything.For the garage conversion, including the walk-in pantry and 2 bedrooms, the mini-split system, taking out the garage door and framing it and adding siding to look like the rest of the house, and add 1 window in each bedroom, the quote was $40k.I would love to get your opinions.  

Investing in real estate isn't all about buying property it's all about creating and controlling your own future.

Sometimes, when I buy a property, I am ok to have a short-term lease with the owner until they move out, but I agree that there seem to be too many variables right now that add uncertainty to the deal.Is the Title clear?

So the lessons here are that until rates come down, most houses for sale at current market rates will not cash flow (well) where they are worth buying in todays market.