Score 97/100
12505 Arlington Ave
Cleveland, OH 44108
- Purchase
- $135,000
- Est. rent
- $2,025/mo
- Cash flow
- $539/mo
- Cap rate
- 11.2%
Why we like it: hits the 1% rule · 11.2% cap is well above the 7% floor most investors require.
See full rankingUpdated daily
Best Properties for Beginners
Affordable, cash-flowing properties with strong deal scores — perfect first investments. Low barrier to entry, high upside potential.
20 new deals added in the last 24h — see what changed below
single family
Profitable
New
97/100
#1
$135,000
12505 Arlington Ave
Cleveland, OH 44108
3 beds2 baths977 sqft
Est. Rent
$2,025/mo
Cash Flow
$539/mo
Cap Rate
11.2%
Mortgage
$719/mo
single family
Profitable
97/100
#2
$130,000
1851 Bay Breeze Pkwy
Gulf Shores, AL 36542
3 beds2 baths1,479 sqft
Est. Rent
$1,950/mo
Cash Flow
$513/mo
Cap Rate
11.1%
Mortgage
$692/mo
single family
Profitable
New
97/100
#3
$175,000
1142 E 30th St
Erie, PA 16504
5 beds1 baths1,401 sqft
Est. Rent
$2,625/mo
Cash Flow
$746/mo
Cap Rate
11.5%
Mortgage
$931/mo
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Getting Started as a Real Estate Investor
Your first investment property should check three boxes: affordable price (low down payment), positive cash flow from day one, and a strong overall deal score. The properties on this page are filtered to meet all three criteria.
We recommend starting with properties under $350K where the estimated rent covers your mortgage and all expenses. This gives you a financial cushion while you learn the ropes of property management and tenant relations.
Focus on markets with strong rental demand, population growth, and landlord-friendly laws. Cities in Florida, Texas, Georgia, and the Midwest consistently offer the best risk-adjusted returns for first-time investors.
Pro tip: Start with a single-family home or small multifamily (duplex). They're easier to manage, easier to finance, and give you real-world experience before scaling to larger properties.
Live deal examples from our database
Pulled in real-time from RealixData's deal scanner — these are actual active listings re-priced with our cash-flow + ROI model. Updated every 12 hours.
Score 97/100
1851 Bay Breeze Pkwy
Gulf Shores, AL 36542
- Purchase
- $130,000
- Est. rent
- $1,950/mo
- Cash flow
- $513/mo
- Cap rate
- 11.1%
Why we like it: hits the 1% rule · 11.1% cap is well above the 7% floor most investors require.
See full rankingScore 97/100
1142 E 30th St
Erie, PA 16504
- Purchase
- $175,000
- Est. rent
- $2,625/mo
- Cash flow
- $746/mo
- Cap rate
- 11.5%
Why we like it: hits the 1% rule · 11.5% cap is well above the 7% floor most investors require.
See full rankingWant to dig into the underwriting? Browse the full Top Deals list or run the numbers yourself with our Cash Flow Calculator.
How we calculate the numbers on this page
Data sources
- Zillow API — listing prices, beds/baths, square footage, days on market, listing photos.
- RentCast API — rent estimates and rental comps. Falls back to zip-level median rent + multi-source comp blend when RentCast is unavailable.
- Realie API — assessor data: county property taxes, last sale price, parcel use code, owner type, foreclosure case data when present.
- FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) — 30-year fixed mortgage rate, refreshed daily.
- Census ACS — population trend, median household income, owner-occupied vs renter-occupied ratios for market scoring.
Default assumptions
These are the inputs RealixData uses unless you override them in the calculator. They're conservative on purpose — a deal that pencils with these numbers has real margin of safety.
Vacancy
5% of gross rent (industry-standard for stabilized SFR / small MF)
Maintenance
8% of gross rent (covers turnover, repairs, periodic capex)
Property management
8% of gross rent (used even for self-managed deals — it's a real opportunity cost)
Property tax
Pulled live from county assessor data via Realie API; falls back to state average if unavailable
Insurance
0.5% of purchase price annually (adjusted up to 1.2% for FL coastal, hail-belt TX/OK, wildfire-zone CA)
Mortgage rate
Live 30-year fixed investor rate, refreshed daily from FRED / Mortgage News Daily
Down payment
20% (changeable on the calculator if you put more or less down)
HOA
Pulled from listing where available; defaults to $0 when not disclosed
Override any of these on a per-deal basis using our Cash Flow Calculator. Curious how the deal score itself works? See the full scoring breakdown.
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