Waiting for market prices to drop isn’t a good idea in my opinion. Often when real estate corrections occur instead of prices dropping, they just don’t go up vey much for a long time. Prices stagnating won’t help you get into the market.

Buying your first rental property is really scary, and I think most people who want to never do because its so scary. I had planned to buy a rental property 3 years before I actually did, and I just kept giving myself excuses not to do it.

I’d recommend buying a cheap condo in whatever area you’re in (not in the worse part of town, but not the best). More expenses properties are hit harder in corrections than cheap places (because people still need to live somewhere, right?). If you can find a place that rent will cover the expenses (condo fees + property taxes + insurance + mortage INTEREST payments) its a good buy regardless of where the market is at.

The value of buying a cheap condo is that less money will be invovled, so it’ll be less scary, and it’ll give you a chance to learn a lot about real estate on a smaller scale (I’d rather make a mistake with a $100K condo then with a $900K apartment building).

The disadvantage is that condos don’t have the best numbers (tougher way to make money). If you view your first property as “education” as well as an investment, it can make sense.

Do you have any books / articles that you’d recommend for soon-to-be apartment building owners? What kind of returns have you seen from your building (if you don’t mind me asking)?

I’m planning to work through my ledger and post my returns on my condo. Hopefully you’ll let me know if I’m making any mistakes with my calculations .