If they are kept inside all the time they can do massive damage to a unit or house.I am mainly convinced that mid to high end residential rentals throw off very little cash flow and it's more about the appreciation boosting the overall returns.Good Luck.

Since this will be our first investment, our main concern is cash flow.

This is one of the larger empty commercial lots very close to a highway, but just behind the main street. 

I do get a little suspicious of Sellers who seem too keen to give attractive seller-financing terms - suggesting that: they win either way!

Short Answer = Yes it is Possible and I know several people who have done itThe Long Answer = The only way I have seen people with no money get started in Real Estate Investing and be successful long term is to get very good at finding motivated sellers.If you have no money, no credit and no experience but you have the Super Power of finding and attracting Motivated Sellers I promise you that you will also attract deep pocket investors who will partner with you, give you finders fee's etc.You see the hardest part for most people is finding the time to seek out motivated sellers as you could talk to 500 people before you find even one possibility and for most people they give up after the first 50 No answers.I wanted to share this with the new investors as I have seen too many of you get excited and burn out with no progress after 6 months. 

There aren't many 2 car garages in the area that are this usable (some are mostly unusable).Initial Repairs: $7-10k (mainly new paint, carpet, lower cabinets in the kitchen, glass block in basement and upstairs bathroom, updating bathroom)Expected Rent: $700/mo (probably doing Section 8)Expenses = $310/mo (based on items below).10% Property Management: $70/mo10% repairs/maintenance: $70/moRE Taxes: $35/moInsurance: $57/mo10% Cap X: $70/moI've used different real estate calculators but since they ask for the information differently I seem to be getting different numbers for my cash on cash returns and cash flow.

The main thing is to be proactive and transparent- hire an exterminator to come and secure the property from any intrusions and set traps as a precaution (be proactive - rats and mice will always find a way in if there is one).Try to get an idea of when construction will end or at least when the demo phase will end.

My own work has not had dramatic fails, mainly because I don't rush it.

They will code the property, the category it belongs to, and pass that to the accounting department.If you hire a general bookkeeper, you might see that problem of coding it completely wrong versus someone that focuses mainly on real estate.To give you a bit of an insight, I am a developmental controller and I am currently handling over $200 Million in transactions for residential/developments. 

(Applicants will sometimes give the number for their friend or family member who then poses as the person you think you're calling.)When calling the applicant's work, I'd recommend calling the main, publicized number for the business rather than the number the applicant provides.