[turbo6bar]

5% down and change will make your monthly mortgage payment around should be around $1000 and rents are up to about $1100. AND... you're appreciating at 10-12% in that area. Can't go wrong.

What cashflow? You're looking at negative cashflow by my math.

{cliche mode on}Past performance is no indication of future performance. Don't be the farm on appreciation. Also, rents are lagging appreciation by a fair amount. More than likely, you won't be able to raise rents by 10-12% unless you're in a unique market.{cliche mode off}

It has been said the past 2-4 years have been the worst in the last 30-40 years with regards to the rental market.

motion, general rule of thumb is you want rents to be approximately 1% of home value (e.g. $175k house yields $1750 in rent). This is just a rule of thumb, and is subject to adjustment. In this housing climate, it would be tough to buy a house at market value and get 1%, but the deals are still out there. As the stock market goes back up, I hope less money will be chasing real estate "deals."

Personally, I won't touch anything unless ROI is at least 20-25%, and 30%+ is better. I have a few Excel spreadsheets which allow you to evaluate potential buys and calculate ROI. Let me know if you'd like a copy.

Be careful out there...
Good luck.

Jürgen