Noobie wants to scale

[Bryant Jaske-Moser]

Hello all!  I'm a long-time listener to the Real Estate Rookie Podcast and YouTube channel. For about 4-5 years, I've been trying to convince my wife that we needed to move (so we could rent out our house) and we finally did it.  We have that one rental that gives us easy cash flow  and we are looking to buy another rental.  We just keep getting stuck in analysis paralysis.  I'm super busy with my work, and my wife is a stay at home mom and manages our single unit rental property.  I hear about "the mid west" being a great place to buy, but we also see great deals on houses here in Dallas (though property taxes are steep). 

I'm curious to know where others are investing and how you selected your market to invest.  Any/All help would be SO appreciated!

[Bryant Jaske-Moser]

@Bruce Lynn

We are torn. Not sure if we want to buy new or a rehab from R2R. 
Or just buy a new home on the out skirts of DFW and lease it on our own.  

I'm leaning toward working with an agent who can help us get a tenant in there right after buying. 

We have down payment ready, waiting to save a little more cash for reserves, and we are pre-qualified with a Leander (est apr 7.25% with a credit score of 800). 
I'm also pretty conservative with my numbers (maybe too conservative) and thinking I need to hold about 30% of rent for Cap-X, gen. maintenance and taxes then pay PI.

Budget: less than $300k purchase price, 25% down, and approved for more but going higher would slow my ability to scale.