Renting Out Rooms in My Residence

[Mike Rodrigues]

Hi all, I have been lurking around here for a few weeks and have a few questions about my situation.

I purchased my first home about 8 months ago and have been renting out to two people: my girlfriend and her best friend (both of them are financially insecure) and I am renting to them well below market value. We also just have a verbal agreement, no lease. My monthly payments are at 1,100 and they are paying 600 between the two of them.

Currently, I am renting to them at $300/mo for each person where if I was to leave the property and rent it out market value would be at $1,500 per month in my community (and I have the most updated property so I likely could command more).

Now to some questions: I would like to start my real estate investing business, specifically becoming a landlord sooner than later. I have 98k of my 100k loan left on my current property, so I am assuming my debt to income ratio is high. What steps right off the bat should I be taking here?

I would like to make a lease for these two, probably a month to month type since I am just helping out one of them and the other is my girlfriend. I do want to look legit to banks and show some income coming in. Will I even look like a solid investor with the rent I am charging?