At closing, one option I would suggest running by the CPA is the option of having an interest only note that balloons in two years (  preferably structured closer to year-end ) with a prepayment penalty equal to that of the gain as there is some very interesting things you can do if a note is structured that way in this ticket or scenario.  

i cant tell you what you should try for but here is what i shoot for.House less than 15 years old.B+ areaAt least $500 month after PITILess than $10,000 of my cash invested via brrrrThis leaves room for mx, cap expenditures, and someone to manage if i choose.If i was buying older properties i would either want to do better on cash flow or be able to rehab the major components to new..rnew, ac, elec, ectI have bought 3 properties in 2015 that fit this profile except for the cash invested on one was closer to 17,000.

I will be moving to that area next summer and my plan was to continue to invest in the New Orleans area as I have been but also start to work the market in that part of Texas since it will be closer to the new 'home'. 

I do know I want to stay closer to ATL so no more than 20 miles out in any direction. 

I'm going to have to get to these other groups but wish we had something a little closer to home. 

The closer to the 620 FICO you have the better chance of qualifying.

Just take a closer look at your expected expenses so you go in eye-wide-open.

The most likely result, if a listing agent is dumb enough to actually let you get it under contract, is that 90 days later you won't be able to flip it for more than the bank's approved price, the deal falls apart, and the only thing you've accomplished is tied the seller for 3 months wasting the time they could have sold it to a real buyer, and got them 90 days closer to a foreclosure auction with maybe no time to go through the short sale process again.  

That will bring you 15 steps closer to your 2016 goals.

They understand that for every deal that doesn’t close they are one step closer to reaching a deal that does.