If you have 150k available, and get a mortgage for 1,750,000, your monthly rate will be around 10k/mo with excellent credit and a good bank. Assuming you can steadily keep at least 5 of these units occupied, if you can rent them for more than 2k/mo you’ll cover your mortgage costs. Current 1br avg is 3,153 in Cambridge. That being said, you’ll also need to consider property taxes, which in Cambridge amount to ~11k per year or $926/mo (or $185/mo/5 units).

So pricing at 2,200/mo could cover mortgage and property taxes.

If you are only putting down 150k, you’ll also need mortgage insurance which can range from 0.5% to 5% of the total amount borrowed payed each year. Plus homeowners insurance. Plus closing costs.

If you can put down at least 390k you can forgo the mortgage insurance and then only need to pay homeowners insurance on it.

Also assume that the quality of these rentals will not be high enough to warrant 3,100/mo, and will possibly require repair and refurb.

Also you always want to be sure you are earning extra each month to cover repairs and unexpected costs.

So, depending on the property this could be a viable investment property, or a money pit.

I don’t know why I just crunched these numbers. I don’t have 150k or 390k to pay, but in case anyone was in these comments thinking about it, wanted to lay it out for ya.