I was planning on contacting some of the owners in order to see if they are looking to sell or work out some sort of deal.Unfortunately for me this is coming at one of the worst times as I am about to have the majority of my liquid assets tied up in a purchase that is in the process to close….taking forever going on 4 months since the initial offer.Besides the aforementioned research I have approached my banks to see if I may be able to apply for a general pre-approval for a maximum amount so that if I was to jump on a deal I could get the financing hammered out in the time before final payment is due (waiting for a call back).

I am currently living in the 4th bedroom as an onsite property manager in lieu of income (and of course, dividends and guaranteed payment).For the final four months of this year, I am currently generating $1025 in gross rent, with operating income (gross minus utilities and taxes) holding steady in the 60 to 75 percent range.

It is as if you just finally went to a casino for your fist time, and walked out cash up.

Would look more closely at Ohio and Indiana.Atlanta, Chicago and Florida is on my final list.would appreciate more inputs from residents of those states mentioned.Thanks

You make money on the down payment, the difference in monthly payment and any residual as the final cash out by the third year.

Hey Greg,I originally started out in residential as a real estate broker.I looked at residential for investment but never pulled the trigger for various reasons.I felt back then the market couldn't keep going up and I was right.I know many sellers now that are STUCK and wish they could buy but they can't because they bought at the height of the market.I only do commercial now.From an earnings standpoint as a broker it doesn't make sense for me to put in 40 offers for an investor on a small house to maybe make 700 to 1,000 bucks on the deal when it finally happens.If I can put the same time and effort into commercial and make 10 to 100 times that much on 1 deal then why work more for less??

But real estate investing at the scale you are considering in amounts your are talking about is fraught with traps for the uninformed.For example, if you take your 1 million and buy a large complex and hire a property management company, how will you know if you are buying a good cash flowing property if you don't know anything about multifamily analysis.

http://www.slideshare.net/celsenhans/top-mf-brokers-final

I have negative net worth so nothing real valuable to protect in a lawsuit at the moment :) At some point I will get more serious with that as my financials should finally start swinging up as I go through my 30s here (college debt can be brutal!)

It takes me (I'm not a realtor) so much work to find these things, then to rehab them, then finally to get a tenant into them, that I think it would be too daunting if I was looking at much more expensive property.