As a Bay Area investor, my guiding principal is that you make money on the purchase.

Here is some information about our situation.Our home value is currently valued at $220,000.The principal on our mortgage is $151,212.

When you borrow $100K 30-year mortgage today, monthly payment is $400 (principal and interest).

Many investor type loans will also allow you to make interest only payments for  a period of time which can be helpful in the event of vacancy to not have to make the full principal  & interest payment. 

Keep in mind that they are utterly ignorant of economic principals and have rose-colored glasses when it comes to tenant behavior.

You want “interest only” and not principal for a portion of the rent up period.13Financing- long-termIf your going to grow, unless you have significant capital at your disposal, find a future business partner.14Business ModelI’ll clean up and post one of my spreadsheets later.15Construction:Use local knowledge/availability16Permits17Building type18Building manufacturer19Contractor20Day to day:21Rental ContractPost a “Topic” on this Forum and ask for some copies sent to you.22Rental RatesZagreb’s GDP per capita is $19,132 versus where I live $60,246 metro area of 1mm.

Then you lease them the house and can choose how much of that goes towards their principal with you.  

Its my personal thought that its usually better to get into your principal residence before buying rental property.

I think to do this I would look at an assumed 2% appreciation though it will probably be more along with estimates for cash flow, potential tax write off, and principal paydown to generate your internal rate of return (IRR).A few things to consider. 

Keep in mind this is a variable rate and 10 year treasuries have shot up in the last couple days, some places already quoting 1/4 pt higher interest rate.A heloc will have a lower payment then if you just refinance the 1st position mortgage and do a cash out loan because the heloc is only interest, whereas the conventional loan would be interest and principal, but would lock you in at a low rate...