Hi Margarita-Great question.There are many mental blocks and friction points to buying your first property.First off, just buying property outside of a first or second home to use is not done by most people and buying your first home is a major purchase for most people.That means the people in our immediate sphere of influence are not thinking about buying investment property, they see it as risky and out of a sense of protecting you or themselves encourage you not to do it.I remember having the same mental blocks and fears you probably do thinking about buying your first property or first investment property.The most critical thing to overcoming these mental blocks is self education and surrounding yourself with the best team of people to help you.An investor friendly Realtor who can refer you to an investor friendly lender, title company or closing office, property inspector, property manager, and insurance agent.Real estate is relational and having the best team will keep you out of the weeds.To Your Success!

Do you have a set list of expenses you work off? 

I am not a big fan of investing out of state, but I know a lot of people here on BP seem to pull it off with no issue.

You've listed the zip code as 38127 and I'm not aware of any pockets in that zip code that I would list as B class. 

Took HELOC in Oct 2023 for the (2nd rental) to pay off all debts. 

I know there are a lot of tax benefits and write offs associated with owning real estate that would be lost as a private lender, but can anyone tell me what to expect?

These checks are after all closing fees and the remaining mortgages were paid off, meaning it's my profit.

I'm glad you're liking it so far, I've run into the same thing with clients where the HELOC sort of throws things off. 

So if you make 10% the first year on $1 of equity (so 1.1x your money), you need to make 10% off the 1.1x starting point (so 1.1*1.1 = 1.21x) to maintain a 10% average CAGR across the two years.In your example, if the $800 per month is after interest, then you made a 38% return (CAGR) for that year ($800*12/$25,000).

I am aware that Central Jersey, my market, has some aids that will allow me to purchase my first home, like HUD covering 15k of closing costs, but who can know more about these things?