I have been doing real estate as a retirement strategy off and on for about 20 years on a very small scale. My only form of investing was a small company with other investors doing buy and hold. Last year I had an opportunity and bought the house next door to me. The income ratio stinks but here is the deal. I paid 111K$,(it appraised for $118K) and seller paid $1K of my closing costs. I paid less than $1000 out of pocket to close. I put 1K$ in paint, faucets, etc. doing all the work myself. I rented it for 825$ a month. The bank loaned me about 83,500$ at 5%, but the seller financed 27k$ at 2% interest. I pay the bank 640$ a month and the seller $200 a month for a net loss of 15$ per month, plus I pay insurance and property taxes out of pocket, for about 800$ per year. Both loans are on 15 year amortizations. The tenant pays all utilities. It is a very nice 4br 2ba, and should rent very quickly if I lose my renter for about $800 per month. My biggest problem has allways been coming up with the 20% down to buy. The seller has a ballon note in 5 years and will have a remaining balance of $17K and my amortization on my bank loan will be at $66K giving me allmost exactly $17K in available equity to borrow on and stay at or below 80% equity. I can pay the mortgage payments if it goes empty but when filling out my yearly fiancial form for the bank I began to worry about my debt load for borrowing for more rentals as I come up with the 20% down for new acquisitions. I can do most maintenance my self, can change hot water heaters, unplug drains, and have even installed a few simple furnaces, but I have a handy man who I also use especially for laying carpet and tiles etc. I was so happy to buy with no money down I took it knowing it was a negative cash flow. What do you think?