But just be aware you will be sharing a space with someone and not being home all the time to monitor the house opens yourself up to potential risks and liabilities.Another option to get into real estate is to consider passive real estate investments.

It all depends on risk appetite.

I'm analyzing a first potential SFH deal on a conventional loan with 20-25% down.

Cold calling potential sellers needs to be quick and get straight to the point: your a local small business and you're looking to make an offer on the property, are they interested?

Quick close leveraging a 1st lien against OTHER real estate you on either a cash out refinance, or, if you have equity, you could potentially obtain a 2nd lien against cash flowing real estate usually capped to a max 75% CLTV (1st + 2nd liens can't exceed 75% LTV combined) (5-30 days)4.

The value he adds to you can increase substantially and save you a ton of headache.An experienced investment broker will aid you in all aspects that come with the deal like underwriting, valuation, potential, structuring the deal, etc. 

The only potential hiccup is that you have not owned it long. 

I prefer to invest locally to where I live as it eliminates a lot of potential challenges and I know the market well.

We use everything we can do to provide more exposure and potentially find a quality tenant, including MLS.

I am faced with a decision of paying 50k> to purchase a lot in a regulatory flood way or >75k to purchase a lot not a flood zone.Obviously as investors, the numbers matter, so is this an action I should enact on or should I avoid the flood zone and purchase the higher priced property or take the risk?