Tidbid for the Day: First Thing To Consider When Looking at Investment Property

Many first time real estate investors look to small apartment buildings - no more than 20 units - as their first foray into property acquisition. 

The first thing - the number one thing - an investory must look at is called the NOI. NOI stands for Net Operating income.  You must look at the income and expenses for the building (which includes all things that pertain to it directly, from maintenance to taxes) and then subtract those expenses from the whole number.  That is your net operating income, or basically money you have to use from the building.  From there, we can get into percentages and other finer points, but this is where you start on anything over four units in size.