If you are looking for a steady monthly income, residential income properties are one of the best investments out there. Residential real estate typically beats other types of investments, including savings accounts, certificates of deposit, the stock market, bonds, Treasuries, gold and currency trading.

The main factor to look at for maximizing your cash flow involves your total initial investment. This includes: down payment, closing costs and initial fixup costs. The more you put down, the less your monthly cost are going to be, mostly in terms of your monthly mortgage payments.

This is great, but remember that putting down larger amounts, like 50% or all cash, will affect your Return on Investment. See our section on "Leveraging", below.

And with condos, don't forget the monthly HOA fees applying to your cash flow calculations.

Bottom line: you need a complete and accurate calculator to determine the right mix of initial investment, purchase price, cash flow and ROI for your investment needs. We happen to have such a tool: our SMART Residential Income Property Search Engine^©. Contact us, and see how well it works for you.