quote:
I cant imagine where that is feasible. I just sold a rental property that I was collecting about $1k after mortgage and bills, and that didn't come close to meeting that rule. If your calculating the rent monthly as 2% that's damn hard.

exactly.
it is supposed to be restrictive.

i was pretty active in the houston area 10-12 years ago last recession.
i'm not from texas..but i moved there bc that is where the opportunity was

i'd buy 3BR 2 car garage foreclosed homes for $55-65k cash.. have a crew clean them up..and have them rented for $1200-1600 2-3 weeks later.

everything was eventually sold within 2-3 years. (actually we till have a couple properties there that family live in)

i had my realtor tell me the what she could rent the house for... i'd have my contractors go take a look and give me a bid.
then offer roughly 50-rent minus cost to replace floors and paint (or whatever)
no inspections..and usually we'd close by end of week.

she'd list them(she'd tell me the FMV).. if we could not sell quickly.. we'd rent for a year or two and put on market again.

a got lucky with a hardworking realtor..
she'd be the one going to these abandoned homes and sending me photos..checking progress of our contractors.
i rely on them pretty heavily... still do.

after a while..banks start to notice you are buying up their REO inventory...
towards the end we'd buy wholesale from a certain bank.

eventually.. deeper pockets started getting involved and it wasnt possible to acquire (in houston) at those prices.

is was a good ride..and frankly i'm proud we put a lot of hardworking families in some good (but at one time ugly) homes..

obviously, i'm not going to invite competitors.. but we are active RE buyers right now(not in houston area obviously)..
slightly different model.. but still following 2% rule