I've even had people tell me that "it's perfectly safe, you can even get title insurance on it".

The only thing is I need to learn more about the Flood Insurance process and need more education about purchasing in flood zones.

Hi Minnesota, I am wondering where you all have found the best value on insurance.   

(Cash flows around $160 factoring including loan payment, insurance, property taxes, 5% vacancy expense, and 15% of rent for CapEx and Repairs.

Our insurance went to $1600 p.a. but we added it back into the rent but we had to accept exclusions for painting & any other flammable storage.

I found posts like this to be helpful when I was first learning about investing in real estate, so hopefully someone on here can get something out of it.Our goals were to cash flow $100 per month per door, have a cash-on-cash ROI of 12%, and achieve a total return of 20%.Purchase price: $179,900Our loan is a 30-year fixed rate residential mortgage at 4.25%25% Downpayment: $44,975Mortgage Payment (Principal & Interest): $663.75Operating Income$26,435 scheduled gross rents (4 units)$(1001) vacancy$600 garage rent$11 interest$26,045 gross operating incomeOperating ExpensesProperty Management (10% of gross rents): $(2543)Leasing fee for new tenant placement: $(550)Sewer: $(1397)Water & Trash: $(1232)Lawn care/mowing: $(350)Gas & electric during vacancy: $(228)City occupancy inspection aka government extortion fees: $(183)Maintenance & Repairs: $(3594)Property Taxes: $(2009)Insurance: $(983)$(13,069) gross operating expenseNet Operating Income: $12,976Mortgage P&I: $(7965)Cash Flow Before Taxes: $5,011Cash-on-cash return: 11%Equity Accrued: $2275Total Return: $7286Total ROI: 16%We hit our cash flow number almost exactly at $104 per door while our ROI and total return came in a little under our projections, but pretty damn close.

Personally I look at the $500 as insurance, or knowing that I have someone to talk to if issues do arise. 

However, if the vendor is still personally on title as a tenant-in-common, there may not be a mortgage registered ... in which case, a conventional lender may not see the property at all ... or will simply see a property you own jointly with a another party.That said, you will still be signing an agreement with the conventional lender in which you state that you have disclosed all such debt obligations :-)

You have home insurance on the property and paying it, right?

My payment for each of these two are $1350 each including insurance and taxes.