[quote=SD Realtor]”just make sure you don’t overpay for the house; your monthly payment with 97 – 100% financing, after the write off, should be close to what the property would rent for…”

There’s the rub. Depending on where you want to live there is little to no chance at all that you will finance 97% of the home and your payment will match the rent. If you are going to set that as a parameter then you more then likely will be waiting a long long time at best. [/quote]

No.

Everything I am handling right now is using FHA loans where the loan to value is 96% or more.

Also, several of the neighborhoods I am handling have cap rates (that’s net income over purchase price) of about 8-10%. You are right that this is more rare with houses.

EG: Several properties in North Park or Normal Heights are worth 120-140k. They net rent for 1000/mth or 12000/year. Playing cards right could mean positive cash flow with 4000k of skin in the deal. It means mortgage and combined monthly costs lower than rent.