How to get the information to do an analysis on a property?

[James Wierzba]

I'm about 6 months away from saving enough for a down payment on a rental property but I have been sending inquiries to properties I see on realtor.com that appear to be workable deals (have positive cash flow). However this is simply based on looking at avg rent prices in area versus mortgage on the sellers price, then using the 50% rule ( 50% of rent income will be expenses). There obviously are a lot more details to it though.

This searching is just for practice and to get my feet wet while I save for a down payment.


My question here is what are key questions to ask the seller to get more info quickly, to be a me to evaluate it further?

So far my questions have been

1. Current tenants? If so what are lease terms
2. Rent income? ( current if applicable or else historical )
3. Expenses (property taxes, utilities)
4. age and condition of all major property expense items (get an inspection -roof, heating system, plumbing, electrical, structural, windows, siding.)


Things I can look at myself:
1. Neighborhood : schools, crime
2. check for leins against property

Are there any other questions i should be asking?

or is this too much for just crunching numbers on a property that I MAY be interested in? I can't ask all of this info on every single property that catches my eye