I saw an article that claimed to exclude payments for rent.

Not to scare you, but here's an article about a foreclosure in NY that may have finally ended, after 23 years.  

To soften the blow, you could even print a recent article that explains why rents across the country (or your particular area) are increasing at such a high rate.This gives you 3rd party verification and shows you are not just pulling numbers out of thin air.I imagine the tenants will not be surprised, and will likely be wondering what took so long for the rents to increase over the years.I read a recent news article about a lady in Plano, TX that got an increase notice of $750…yes $750 on top of existing rent rate. 

My situation: I have been learning about REI for a while and recently decided to start actively exploring opportunities.

I have read many articles and met folks who have had mixed experiences with Property Managers.  

I wrote an article for the BP blog a couple months ago that will shed some light on this for you:  https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

@Gary Woodring if you are buying a larger deal, I would explore using agency debt.

.#2 Make sure you have 6-9 reserves for the Condo#3 With the loan money, you can explore options with purchasing your primary residence, how much would that help your monthly mortgage instead of renting. ( don't forget about the tax benefits of homeownership in tax write offs of property taxes and interest)I am not sure how much equity you have, but if you still have cash left over, I would consider re-investing in another property. 

I wanted to resume Real Estate investment, I was out-priced in my locale so explored out of state investing.

I wanted to resume Real Estate investment, I was out-priced in my locale so explored out of state investing.