My tax returns over the last few years show negative income because of depreciation on my RE investments and losses incurred from an engineering company I own.

Here are more realistic numbers on the deal he proposed.Purchase price: $800,000Down Payment: $40,000Financed Amount: $760,000Gross Rents: $15,000Operating Expenses: $7,500NOI: $7,500Mortgage Payment ($760,000, 20 year, 8%) $6,350Therefore, a deal at this price and rents would give you a cash flow of about $1,150 per month, which is only $38 per unit per month.Appreciation may be positive, negative, or zero.

If I only knew what I know now about motivated sellers, I could have bought it for at least $10k less, or better yet, would have bought another property all together.

Scores are negatively impacted by events such as late payment, incomplete or partial payments, defaults, and judgements or liens, and range from 300 to 850.

and all that with a minimum amount down that won't negatively affect your future investment plans, or fail to leave you with contingency cash.

I own a house in South Dakota but live in Oklahoma now.I have a negative cash flow from this house of about $150 month.Do you think I should hang on to this house for a while to see if I can turn a profit, or am I just trying to hang onto a lost cause?

I have a negative cash flow from this house of about $150 month.

One thing to watch out for is Negative Amortization.

Since your rent may be fixed for a much larger period of time, a sharp rise in interest rates can cut seriously into your cash flow (or even turn it negative, potentially); and (2) higher interest rates will drive cap rates up (since buyers will need to be able to cover the mortgage with a higher interest rate).

But factor in people doing midnight moves and you might end up with a negative cash flow.