It is my understanding that if you go 5 units or more you will need a Comercial loan and Comercial loans look at the property value and the revenue it generates and not so much credit score or DTI...so look for properties that are 5 units or more.Or do BRRR (Buy, rent, rehab, refinance) using a private loan (mom and dad or invester) or hard money loan.I hope this helps a bit.Good luck!

Our lease break fee was 3 times the rent, mutual termination, paid by money order or cashiers check, and of course security deposit refund depended on how they left apartment, processed in 21 days. 

Meaning if I have the deal can they loan me the money going straight to title company or do they have to have the LLC in their name?

. $4500 seems like A LOT of money to transfer our digital plans into CAD (the contractor already built-out our design ideas on his laptop's software) and have an engineer ensure we're using the right beams in the right places.

I was also looking at Rentigo but can't see how/where they make any money which always worries me!

Your risk of losing money is about 90% if you want to be under 50K in Memphis as an out of state investor.  60K plus you are starting to be OK.

Try saving your money until you can actually invest in real estate, or partner with someone who already is.

If you have questions of legal compliance and how to make money without being dragged before an admin board or a court?

I don't know what your current debt situation is or how you feel about leverage, but this is just an example of how much further your money can go in this market.I am not as familiar with the Pratville/Montgomery market, of course, but AL in general has much lower property prices than the rest of the country.

I've got no money for marketing, so I'm D4D in my spare time and researching owners online.