Who pays the water, heat, hot water, cooking gas, trash, common area maintenance, etc? 

@Philip Cook -- thanks for the tip!

Stay on them but keep in mind that you have a cook in the kitchen still.  

Hi @Jonathan Cook, you could look into an FHA loan which allows you to put down less than 20%.

@Jason Cook congrats on the first purchase on the rental! 

I live fifteen outside of AC, and my family books Airbnb for Thanksgiving weekend to all get together and cook without cleaning.  

Cooks are paid well.Restaurant owners have the most thankless job ever.

Your job here is to restate the conversation in such a way that they realize that the $20 is them already receiving great value, because no one else is going to take a smoker or a barking dog and certainly not at the rent they're paying now. 

I am currently on HH#2 and have used Castle & Cooke Mortgage for both of them.

So today just ask them like ALL SMOKERS IN CA its illegal to smoke in doors .. we are not talking about adverse weather at any time of the year.