If you own lets say a 4plex, one bad tenant will cost you some money but you still have 3 other ones carrying you along and paying your bills.Single family homes are putting all your eggs in one basket.

I think I will be buying each unit a small gift basket for the holidays to show my appreciations for them staying with me.

I think the DF act will look at all fish but once the large fish is hook and brought to the bank let's fry the large fish and enjoy the fruit of our labor and at that time, the little fish will get the message.

I've had 2 bug infestations in one of my properties this year: Pantry moths and fruit flies.

but there are many many more cities than those. there are plenty of places where 20k buys you a decent house in a decent neighborhood. for example, the house im in the process on right now is 22k, nice working class neighborhood, and comes with a 4yr tenant at 450/m. and also if you leveraged the 20k with four of these, you are spreading out your "eggs" between 4 baskets.

here's how I look at it - don't put too much money in one basket.

I am actually looking into 2 markets, which is spreading my options between 2 baskets, not 1, but it is harder to keep up on both.

Okay my wife just brought over a glass of wine and fruit / cheese plate so I am done.Cheers,Darin

It seems the lower end of the market has a better cost:rent ratio.Taking the $69K - $650 rent as an example (there are a bunch of these units for sale; they're in a complex with a lot of units for sale), let's say I bought 4 of those (although I wouldn't want to put all my eggs in one basket buying all in the same building, but this is just for samples sake).Using a 15-year amortization period with a 3% rate (I'm in BC, Canada), and a purchase price of 65K and down payment of 30K (46%) on each place, that would work out to a $241 monthly mortgage on each.

I use the MLS more for comps than anything else, and have automated searches set up for low hanging fruit.