Ideally have 3-6 months expenses saved up and liquid. 

Your ideal tenant profile would be someone who doesn't mind not moving in for a while but would rather work on the property to fix it up and then complete the purchase by exercising the option.2.

@Carter WongSan Francisco, Hawaii, Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston are examples of primary markets which are NOT ideal for cashflow investing.

It's ideal for investors with less than 2 years of income history, self employed investors with heavy write offs, investors who already have 10 + mortgages (there's no caps on these), and investors who want to vest title in a LLC.

But what about if you would own a small apartment complex, wouldn’t you need certain certifications to manage that, which would require a GED at a minimum or would you ideally have someone else manage that for you?

If you keep 1 account per rental and set up tracking categories to match Schedule E for your rental you can categorize them in the bank account and print out monthly summaries, year end summary. 

Assuming that you have to pay taxes, closing costs, realtor fees, etc, and you are left with 300K to invest, here's how I would invest it in the Denver market to achieve your goals:I would buy three large single family homes (6+ bedrooms, 3+ bathrooms) with basement apartments with separate entrances that cost between 400-450K with 20% downpayments in Westminster, Lakewood, Englewood, Thornton, or Northglenn, also, these houses would ideally be separated from the top and bottom (ex. 3 bedrooms 2 bathrooms upstairs, 3 bedrooms 1 bathroom downstairs), so you could rent by the room for a premium on the top rooms, and rent by the room on the bottom rooms or rent out the whole bottom unit to a family.

I found it helps to have it in your back pocket that you could always do more of the work, it is not ideal, but I found it really helped get my confidence over the hump to get a deal.

Hi @Norma E.

I've built several single family homes and duplexes but nothing bigger. I've got a multi-family site available that is zoned for up to 18 units per acre. First unit at 6,000 each, additional at 2,200 square feet. So 8...