Just want to thank everyone for all the info provided here. I bought my first rental about 1.5 years ago. Last week I collected the deposit to rent out my second unit. This house was purchased as my primary 4.5 year ago. I was very lucky that interest rates dropped in half since then allowing me to refinance a 600/month PITI to 450/month.

The house is rented how for 750/month. After the 50% rule applied, my total cash flow should be 750/2-260(P&I) = 115/month. I am self managing, so in theory, I should be able to "earn" another 75/month.

I found who I believe will make good tenants who had 5 years at their current apartment with only one late payment. Their income is not as strong as preferred (less than 3Xrent), but the rental history made up for that.

The first rental I was lucky to find for 12K (about 5 to 7K less than anything comparable in that area in its purchased condition). This second one I was lucky that interest rates dropped in half. Both rentals I have been lucky to find solid and projected solid tentants.

So what have I done? Just tried to save money and be ready to meet it with opportunities. Having knowledge of what is realistic and not (thanks it no small part to this site) has been a big help.

Now I have both tenants depositing directly to the bank and the mortgage will autodebit from that account, too. Have HVAC guy going around to rentals and primary to do AC tuneups and got a 30% PM discount for multiple properties. Now that's "landlording on autopilot" if there was such a thing haha!

Thanks to all,
Brian