I definitely think the land is a massive part of the value - as this is one of the remaining relatively large plots of land in the town - most other plots now have horses or have been subdivided, plus this backs up to a beautiful reserve.

When you go to make a reservation, check out the times that are blocked to get an idea of how far ahead these things are getting rented.  

His ROI will be equal to your interest rate; you can negotiate how generous or profit-seeking said family member wishes to be.Fannie Mae does not allow gifts from family for purchasing investment properties.She does, however, allow 2nd position mortgages secured by real estate other than the subject property to be used as funds for down payment, reserves, closing costs, etc. 

The Freddie Mac language is a little more clear than Fannie, but they have the same requirement: (the reserves requirement for Freddie is different than Fannie)Freddie Mac guideline:Each Second Home or Investment Property Mortgage must meet the following requirements:• Each Borrower individually and all Borrowers collectively MUST NOT BE OBLIGATED ON (e.g., Notes, land contracts and/or any other debt or obligation) more than 10 (ten) 1-4 unit financed properties, including the subject property and the Borrower's Primary Residence, provided that, when the number of 1-4 unit financed properties (including the subject property and the Borrower's Primary Residence) is greater than6 (six), the Mortgage must:o have a minimum Indicator Score of 720 ANDo 8 months of the monthly payment amount on each additional second home and/or 1-4 unitInvestment Property that is financed and on which the borrower is obligated.

Example: Saving for a down payment, or waiting to buy another property till I've got sufficient cash reserves in the first property.I'm fairly disciplined, but I feel like I'm running my goals through my mind nonstop, all day, to try and stay focused.

You may also be able to strengthen your evaluation if you can show liquid cash reserves available.

thats the current direction of how we are approaching our houseing model.now we have better credit (we are both above 740 and moving higher month by month), we have better jobs and we have more in reserves.

When a downturn happens these areas tend to be hit less hard and the tenants whether commercial or residential tend to have more reserves to pull from to pay the rent and wait out the down cycle for recovery again.

I always try to be generous on expenses and light on revenues when underwriting a deal.It is good to see you are allowing for CAPEx ... though it technically a reserve, not an expense (meaning it is allocated "below the line" from Net Operating Income and not as an Operating Expense {"above the line"}).Also be certain to allow enough for Closing costs.  

Now that I have the time and reserve funds to properly screen tenants, I am curious what the best approach is for someone that has never lived in the US.