Or I could come to feel comfortable buying with cheap money now, and weathering a drop in housing prices seeing as how I'm trying to buy a very rentable house and hold it 25 years.

Try to put yourself in the investor's shoes and run the numbers on a deal based on the different splits you mentioned above and see if you feel comfortable asking an investor to invest based on those numbers.

You'll have to speak with your attorney and possibly indicate in the rider that you will pay for any repairs, up to some dollar amount, to make the seller more comfortable with the FHA loan.

A big reason for investing in real estate for me was freeing up more of my "time budget" over the long term to "spend" on things I'd rather do than wake up early to go to an on-site w2 job (although I actually like mine well enough), and be able to live comfortably (although I live relatively frugally now).I would recommend discussing those numbers with your wife too, when talking about 1-2 hours a day on ALL family activities and help..

Make sure your agent is comfortable and knowledgeable regarding their time frames, inspection periods (if you're an investor...you do NOT have an inspection period.

@David Galvan I would look at it from a month to month basis, how much can you comfortably budget and devote to marketing rain, sleet or snow.

Every note I purchased I made sure I would be comfortable owning the real estate.

I would say that its personal preference on what you feel most comfortable with.

@Kelly Miller I spent 2 years studying real estate before I felt comfortable jumping in.

I have been reading tons and trying to be come comfortable with the ins and outs (from an outside view of course).