By Ben Jimenez
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McKinney, TX
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October 4, 2026
Start with one property that survives honest math, not with a plan for ten. In McKinney specifically, that means accepting up front that this is an appreciation and stability market more than a cash-flow market, and underwriting accordingly.
Here is the tension you have to price in. Closings over the last 30 days ran a median near $511,000. Median gross rent in McKinney sits around $1,740 a month, with three-bedroom units averaging closer to $2,420.
Put those together. A $511,000 house renting for $2,400 is bringing in about 0.47 percent of purchase price per month. The old rule of thumb investors quote is one percent. McKinney is nowhere near it, and neither is most of this metro.
That does not make it a bad buy. It makes it a specific kind of buy. You are underwriting for a low or slightly negative cash flow year one, principal paydown, and the bet that McKinney keeps drawing people. If you need the first property to feed you, you are shopping in the wrong city.
Two realistic doors. A conventional investment loan, which means real money down, typically 20 to 25 percent, and your personal income and debt-to-income ratio carrying the file. Or a DSCR loan, where the property's rent versus its payment qualifies the deal instead of your tax returns, at a somewhat higher rate.
The version most people actually do first: buy a house you live in, live there two years, then keep it as a rental when you move up. Owner-occupied financing is dramatically cheaper than investment financing, and that first conversion is the cheapest rental you will ever acquire.
Almost never at property one. It stalls at three or four, and it stalls for two reasons.
That second wall is why investors move to DSCR lending as they scale. It swaps a personal-income test for a property-income test. Worth understanding before you need it, not after a lender declines you.
Boring. Three bedrooms, two baths, in a part of McKinney where a family would actually want to live, in a condition where you are not managing a renovation on your first deal. The rent range for three-bedroom product is the deepest tenant pool in town, and a plain house in a decent school zone re-rents fastest when your first tenant leaves.
Skip the fixer on deal one. Skip the property that only works if rents climb. Buy something that is merely fine, hold it, learn what owning a rental actually costs, then buy the second one with real numbers instead of estimates.
If you want to run the actual numbers on a specific McKinney property before you make an offer, that is worth doing together.
On a conventional investment loan, plan on 20 to 25 percent down plus closing costs and a reserve for repairs and vacancy. On a McKinney-priced house that is a six-figure number before you own anything.
Talk to a CPA and an attorney about this, not an agent. The practical tension is that residential financing is cheaper in your own name, and moving title to an LLC afterward has its own consequences.
New construction means fewer repairs early and a higher price. Resale means a lower basis and more maintenance. For a first deal, low surprise count usually beats a slightly better price.
If you live nearby and have one property, self-managing is reasonable and teaches you the business. Past two or three properties, or if you are out of the area, management fees usually buy back more than they cost.
There is no single answer, and anyone who gives you one is guessing. What drives it is your down payment, your rate, and rent growth. Underwrite year one as break-even at best and you will not be surprised.
Get a straight answer on pricing, timing, and what it would take to get you moved.
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Ben Jimenez