I like your answere, a thristy man does't care about the glass as much as the water in the glass.

Excuse me while I go clean myself with boiling water and bleach....

Building credit is a long process, but mainly you need new good credit reporting to "water down" those old late payments.

My #1 rule of seminars is that if there are pictures of estates, expensive cars, or blue water (pool or ocean) being displayed on a screen in front of the room, someone is going to get excited and eventually take a big loss.

I am guessing that water and heating was paid by the last owner as I found one huge water heater and two furnaces during my physical inspection.If I have to pay water and heating for all units plus common area and my rental income is $400 per unit, that will be a BAD investment.

I tell tenants before they move in, and it's written in my lease agreement to contact me immediately with any maintenance issues so I can address the problem.I had a tenant once that let a leaky toilet keep leaking until she got a 500.00 water bill.

I used 700/month in rent against the following expenses:Mortgage Rate 4.75%Length of Mortgage in years 30Monthly Mortgage payment $140.84Taxes $76.17Sewer and Water $- (paid by tenants)Trash $- (paid by tenants)Heat/Utilities $- (paid by tenants)Cap Ex and Ops $150.00 (covers new roofs, new furnaces, and whatever else can break :) )Insurance $83.33Mgmt Fee $56.00Vacancy $42.00Total Expenses $548.34At 4.0% interest rate and 750/month it goes to over $200/month income and 17.7% ROI.

I can live with $525/water paid but not sure that's the right price because of the size.

This deals is a very good deal for Houston right now using the MLS, IF your rehab is only 4-8K (the photos on MLS did not show the roof, a/c unit, foundation, or water heater) so that is the big question.Rents in that subdivision in the last 12 month for 3/2/2 are $1120 (4 days on market) to $1300 (18 days on market) so you should have no problem on the rental end.PM me and I can refer you to a property management company here that are investors themselves and have maintenance personnel on staff.I hope this helps.

Here is how I broke down the property using ~20k in expenses per year: Mortgage Rate 4.75% Length of Mortgage in years 30 Monthly Mortgage payment $762.91 (on a purchase price of 195k with 25% down) Taxes $150.00 Sewer and Water $166.67 Trash $150.00 Heat/Utilities $666.67 Cap Ex and Ops $300.00 (2 properties at $150/month each) Insurance $208.33 Mgmt Fee $272.00 (8%) Vacancy $204.00 (6%) Total Expenses $2,880.58 Unit 1 $700.00 Unit 2 $700.00 Unit 3 $700.00 Unit 4 $700.00 Unit 5 $600.00 Total Revenue $3,400.00 Cashflow/month $519.42 Cashflow/year $6,233.09 ROI 11.60% (this drops to 10.60% if you have to double your closing costs)