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).

The caveat implicit in my advice above, is that you need to have something to do with the money to invest to earn a good yield that you are comfortable with the risk of..

Yes those numbers are correct, but there are some details in this deal that are out of my normal comfort range.

Make sure it's in rentable condition (or find out what it would take to get it that way and adjust your offer accordingly) and if an SFR make sure it matches with other houses in the area (i.e. don't buy a $200k+ house in an average $100k community).Also, please be comfortable with where you are.