Owners needed to leave due to health reasons, after getting offers way lower than market - I ran numbers and decided to jump on it and give them what they needed.

I ran into debt-to-income ratio issues.

I would love to get any feedback on my thought process.RENTING: If I rented a $2400 apartment, then I would spend $31,200 (including the one month fee, which is absurd) in one year.BUYING:Then I ran the numbers of the cost of "ownership" assuming the following375k purchase price condo/SFR, 5k in improvement, FHA financing, 5% down, 30 year (including 1.75% upfront MIP and 0.8% annual MIP), interest rate of 3.625 (pre-qualified by TD Bank). 0% appreciation, 1.5% property taxes, homeowners insurance of $35/month/$100K home value, 200/month in HOA fees and $3,000 in annual maintenance. 

I ran it through the calculator and I will have to pay about $550/mo extra to cover the mortgage and all expenses, not living there would cashflow $700.

Just this week I ran into a very cool duplex unit with plenty of room to create equity and even a third unit - along with a cute mini-farm if you are into that.

I ran the numbers a while back

Thanks for everyone's input....I think this might be culture thing but I still like to "save face".

to attract tenants, i ran an ad in the paper with a "new year's security deposit special" in the beginning of the year...i lowered the deposit all the way down to 150, but jacked the rent up an extra 50 bucks per month (the tenants of course did not know that though)...instead of 400 a month, they will pay 450/month for a year...people that live in these 400/month rentals are usually not great with money...thus, do not have the cash upfront to move in (esp. after the holidays)..i gave them a cheaper entrance, and they'll pay the extra 50 per month, which i will set aside as a deposit, just in case...the only downside i can see is if they trash the place in a few months before i can get an adequate aggregate deposit

I ran a couple quick reports on 2 good list segments for Cuyahoga County.ABSENTEE OWNERS with HIGH EQUITY3,036 availableProperty in the county, home value up to $250,000, single and multifamily, high equity, 5+ year ownership, one per ownerSENIORS with LOW FINANCIAL STABILITY SCORE (FSS)1,428 availableAge 50-89, 15+ year ownership (ready to downsize or transition to assistance), owner occupied, single family home home value up to $250,000 with Low FSS.

To help you, I ran and got the book out of the bookshelf before I finished this post to give you the correct name of the book: "What every real estate investor needs to know about cash flow".This books is worth every dime and should be part of every investors library.