The fact that you're even making a post indicates there is enough uneasiness with the situation that you're not sure about "their" data vs having your own.

Hey @Alan Ford, like @John Underwood said, your cousin should be able to provide previous years performance stats.The fact that it is a current STR is nice as it has data to show how well it is doing.Also, is she going to leave it furnished for you?

Of course, for investing in rental real estate, you want markets with lower vacancies and ongoing demand.The bottom line is that for a great real estate investment market, you want to invest in areas where the data show signs of current and continued healthy growth.A few sources to find the data mentioned above include City-Data.com and censusreporter.org.

I don't want to base everything on a "rule" or a test, but finding most deals so far struggle to meet the 1% rule, let alone come close to the 2% rule. 

There application wasn't the greatest but they were the most qualified at the time and I knew they could mathematically afford it based on the data in the credit report. 

Does it make sense to buy a turnkey property or 2 to test out that market and really build up a solid team? 

I'm sure I don't need to explain to you the FHA self sustaining test for 3-4 units either.

@Genesis Pacheco When purchasing a multifamily with a FHA loan you also need to be familiar with FHA's "self-sufficiency test". 

.- The base new home price for homes started in 2010 was $211,868, according to data provided by Metrostudy.

Hey Jaycinta,for me as it stands unless something is missing this deal wouldn't pass my tests. a few reasons. i personally am looking for 10% cash on cash minimum. i'm also looking for some sort of value add, either the purchase price could be great, or some units would need work to increase value or rents would have to be low and you could increase them. from what you've presented it doesn't seem to have any of these abilities. a few other things to point out, very rarely would a new to you place really need zero dollars of work. think paint or carpets, or landscaping or anything like that even if a large rehab doesn't need to take place. additionally i think if you shop around you could do better than 5% for your mortgage.