Tenant screening and property selection are crucial.A solid performing property can be purchased for 40-50k, and rent for 600-700 per month.

From our little bit of experience we found we can hold market rent + electric at our other properties we own.Based on the small amount of expirence I have, I am inclined to make an offer to the seller as such:Contingent on:1)All deferred maintenance completed or a $10,000 sellers credit directly for repairs and maintenance2)All units move in ready condition per buyer standardsIf sold at current (100%) occupancy we offer $285,000If sold at 50% tenant vancancy we offer $300,000If sold at 100% tenant vacancy we offer $315,000OR 100% sellers financing with a purchase price of $330,000You can see it is counter intuitive to pay more for a non performing asset, however we save eviction costs/ time while being in a strong position to advertise and fill the deal with properly screened tenants locked into our lease, paying at our desired terms.

Most applicants can be pre-screened by asking our realtor about them because their families have lived in the town for generations, and they know. 

The landlords I know of from Hawaii always listed the property on Craigslist, which worked out great since they did a good job of screening tenants.

There are so many avenues to invest in RE, so I'd suggest starting at the beginning - at the Education tab up at the top of the screen.  

And due to heavy and diligent tenant screening, my tenant was great so I was willing to live with less extra dollars till he graduated from medical school.

First one was a no-show, but wasn't a big deal because the 2nd was a family that had been my best phone screening to date.

We've been advertising for about 2 weeks and  after screening out several who were obvious they wouldn't be a good match for us for various reasons (bad credit, don't earn enough income, don't want a 12 month lease, etc.) we have our first prospects that look like potential tenants (husband, wife, 2 young children).  

You can now communicate with the contractor and keep tabs on how things are progressing on the property all from your smartphone screen while you're at work.

I am putting about $10,000 into it immediately, along with a lot of blood, sweat and tears (more on that later).