The deal will leave the seller at your sons mercy for decades (the life of the loan).

Rip all the ceilings out, install furring strips and drywall.

We're willing to live almost anywhere in the greater Sacramento area based on what we can afford, provided of course that the property is in a decent neighborhood that has a good chance of attracting responsible tenants.As for budget, I believe we could get a conventional loan for properties up to $600k, but my strong preference is to find a distressed property (or seller!)

i wouldn't tell you where you should move since i don't know you.also, a lender would be in the best position to advise whether you qualify for a specific loan. 

Buy and holds is the key to true wealth with all the benefits of depreciation, appreciation, loan pay down by your tenants, leveraging the equity, cash-flow etc etc, but it often times isn't the active income that pays the bills until you build up a portfolio and even then there's the tenant management or managing your property managers.That's why I'm involved in all 3.

Check with your lender first—they may allow it if you personally guarantee the loan.2.

You've got to include loan pay down, appreciation, and depreciation in your return calculations.The point of cash flow is to keep you safe.

Somewhere in the middle is likely your best bet for a 20 year timeline.I have almost 50 units here myself and that's about what my portfolio is cash flowing at this point combined LTV is around 65% as loans have gotten paid down and values have went up.

The process from start to finish would take four months and cost ~200k to build, with comps in the area around 355k-lender man said, refinancing would take six months as most lenders wont refinance a property unless its been built for six months, affecting the strategy to get paid out from refinancing quicker and closing out on construction loan-The property would not appraise at comps value, but at the cost it took to build, affecting getting paid out from the refinance.

I have two rental properties through the VA loan being military.