Also, you should look for opportunities to buy below market and force some appreciation, so that you are not 100% dependent on cash flow to make all your returns, you will be insulated to some degree from short term market fluctuations, you create multiple profitable exit strategies for yourself, and your cash flow numbers should also improve to boot.

A lot depends on your price range what is available.

@Liz Boer"Real estate investing" can mean so many things, depending on who you talk to.

Depending on your area typically 0.5-2% response rate2) Cost-effective way is to send the first batch first class, harvest the dead leads and remove those from your campaign, then mail standard for the rest3) Opinion is that you should shop around because quality, price, and service differs between different companies.Regards,Ray

What to do depends on a lot of factors, not the least of which is the state of your current market.

I am looking around in my area as that's the market I know best, and the max price is around 2.5M$.Rents vary a lot here depending on building amenities and renovations done, even within the same neighborhood.

That number doesn't include finishes which can be all over the board depending on what you do.

Whether you should do so will depend on the amount of realty transfer tax you need to pay since it's not cheap to hire an attorney to handle that process for you.  

Depending on how you came across the 'deal' you have to understand that the seller won't want to waste his time, effort, and energy disclosing information on the property, providing you a tour, and also giving you his financials to someone who doesn't have the ability to purchase it.

I really want to be in a career where my income depends on me.