For those willing to take some time and hear my situation out to give some advice,I'm a 19 year old college student (in Lancaster, PA) at Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology working part time (full time over summer) as an IT Technician at my school district that i graduated from last year, I'm also working on my real estate license through Real Estate U online.

You as the buyer should be able to figure out what your payment is going to be and rents dont vary that month.. this is very basic stuff and it will help U eliminate things quickly when you can do those two things yourself..PS using FHA minimum down in today's market and expecting positive cash flow in one year is going to be tough right there unless you do some pretty significant value add.

@Mindy JensenSAY OUT OF PRE-FORECLOSURES - - Y O U can go to jail and be fined.Lookup "Purchasers of Equity" in your State Civil Code before you act.seek legal council

@Sean Moore is up to u, r u still loving doing real estate, if the answer is yes then u should keep going.

Have you found a good property manager. if so, could u pls PM me.

look a the median price of a home in a given MSA  say Cleveland is 160k  well then you know that a good amount of homes at that price point are going to homeowners.. and homeowners want better schools and the neighborhoods are more stable. so buy as close to the median as you can I believe this will lead to better tenants.. lower up front returns but greater IRR over the long haul which is how U need to get financial freedom in rentals.

So if the prop is in a state with owner exceptions and your buying from an owner U need to use the tax rate that investors pay..

So lots (and I do mean lots) of cash flow vs. appreciation debates on here and u can read some intelligent arguments for both.In this case we can skip all that back and forth. 

hold that another 5 years until U sell for 1.4 million and 1031  now you have 800k in cash and you buy a 3 million prop and in 5 to 15 years you now own a 3 mil prop with no partners.

Can u dm me about future events.