First piece of advice, if you're planning to buy a property in the next 24 months with any type of traditional financing, do your best to make that happen within the next 6 months.Lenders get really uncomfortable about making loans within 6 mo. of your exit date, and once you're out, you'll have some difficulty getting a loan without "steady" job history.Chad Bowman out of Austin will be your very best resource if you plan on using a VA loan.

I am currently using a friend of mine as my agent but will be networking with as many people as possible, including other agents.Since I'm new to the investing market, he gave me his login credentials for narrpr.com so I can quickly see ARV for any property which should facilitate a quicker decision on my part.

I'm an older gal…old enough that I think I'd prefer using a professional property manager to manage my rentals.

I want to find and purchase a duplex using a FHA loan and live in it while fixing it up and renting out the other side.  

Using a little basic math and intuition, I know that after this deal I'll be stuck on the side lines for a while until my RE and personal income can refill the capital coffers for the next acquisition....unless.......unless there was another way!

We ended up keeping the home and currently rent it out for about $2,050 month (using a PM we net about $650-700/mth on average...not counting HELOC payment).    

Unless you are planning to do multiple deals with one partner, using a PP Trust is less expensive and simpler than creating a LLC. 

Because of distance and my knowing that renting anything called a mobile home is high effort, high turn over and doesn't make that much cash that you actually keep, I decided on rent to own for 12 months, Dodd Frank did away with rent credits, just $1500 option fee up front, another $1500 at closing in 12 months (long term cap gains) and financing the sale using a Licensed Mortgage Loan Originator, qualifying to 43% DTI, 9.5% interest rate and typically a 13-14yr fixed rate amortizing note.  

If you're using a property manager and that claimed cap rate is based on expenses that are less than 50% of the gross rents the cap rate is overstated. 

Contract terms that are contrary to public policy are void.Always have a local lawyer review your lease, unless you are using a standard form lease from an organization that has itself had the form reviewed by a lawyer.