Ex:Buy land (or mortgage for land) for $15k      Design or buy a ready blueprint for a single-family home  Interested buyer decides that he/she wants the home constructed that you designed and pays you $500k to do soYou hire builders to build you the home for $400kYou the difference ($500k-$400k=$100k)(the numbers I used are purely hypothetical to show what I mean).                                                                                                                                                                                                      

These in turn reflect back into the HOA dues.For a pure appreciation-only play, your particular situation may be ok, especially if its a newer property and you expect demand to increase in the area.

These issues are not purely real estate matters.

Which items are absolutely necessary to make another unit habitable (plumbing, electrical, or HVAC problem), which items would make an "OK" unit more attractive (replace appliances) and which items are purely cosmetic (extra landscaping)?

Seller financing in our area is as rare as a good Will Farrell movie and subject-2 deals that make sense are even harder to find.One of our rentals used to be my primary residence for around 5 years, so financing that was purely conventional.

It is easy to get caught up in purely looking at cash flow, but cash flow is not the only criteria in investing.

Not that long ago I changed all the smoke detector batteries in my own house, some more than once, before eventually finding some Verizon box sporadically beeping in my basement.

Plus for the first year or so they wouldn't cash flow and you would be then playing the appreciation game.It does seem that in Denver area unless you have like $300k liquid it is hard to get into the true pure investment property play.

I'd consider doing it purely for what you'd LEARN from it, now how much you'd profit - that comes later as long as you don't make a very bad buy (less than 1% rule). 

In theory, yes, you're using a higher percentage of your income to pay down your loans, but this is purely optional.