To a California guy, that is a wild concept, I know - but it is fact.So, in my opinion, a  4plex makes more sense (more people paying rents) - and in Bakersfield, you'll have plenty of comps.To a lender, it won't matter 1-4 family is all the same.So think of performance ration - in a duplex, you are living in one, you tenant moves out - you are paying the whole boat.  

That will mention someone so they are informed you messaged them.On the other note you really shouldn't consider keeping a negative cash flowing property. it doesn't just cost you a few dollars.

If I buy this property at $75K, put 20% down with a conventional 30 yr, and achieve $1k/mo in rent (which is what comps for this type of property)... the following #s is what I see at a high level:- Principal & Interest: $293/mo-Tax : $150/mo-Insurance (est): $50/moTotal PITI: $493Est Expenses (50% Rule): $500-----------------------------------------Total Expense + PITI = $993/moIncome ($1k rent w/ 9% Vacancy Loss): $910/moCashflow in this scenario is negative.. with 1.3%  rent/price ratio.Even with a sales price of something like $55K (1.8% rent/price ratio), this doesn't cash flow.Now with the same above scenario, using est 30% expense assumption cashflows $180/mo.Am I being too conservative on expenses for a ~1,200 sq ft. brick bungalow ?

I unfortunately bought it near the height of the RE bubble and it is now negative cash-flowing and basically unsellable anytime soon.  

When my daughter got an apartment off campus we had to do this and now I am using that concept on my college rental as well.

By the time you factor in maintenance, capex, vacancies,  and other expenses, you are barely breaking even (or possibly cashflow negative).And buying a property for more than it is worth makes it hard to exit if things go wrong.

They are the easiest to rent of all of my houses but have a negative cash flow. 

Rather than just saying revenue-expenses=profit, it takes into account the fact that the expenses may need to be paid before there is any profit so your cashflow might be negative at first.

Probably in the least this is a 400K project but you're in Jersey so it's got to be much much higher than it would be here in Kansas, unless you're buying slum low down junk that you shouldn't be looking at anyway.This would be a pretty lengthy and involved decision and you would need to have a lot of knowledge about a wide variety of things to even approach this kind of project.Most people will probably try to help guide you in some fashion and by all means please don't think I'm trying to be negative or have a mean tone to my text here.

.- jobs are great, however, people are willing to commute, usually close to jobs means busy/noisy, apart from Milenials who love that social interaction, older families with kids may prefer a quiet "cul-de-sac" street where kids can play freely- proximity to certain negative aspects such as railroads, flood zonesOn the inventory level, I am monitoring the supply/demand of rentals in a certain area of interest.