When evaluating long-term real estate opportunities, keep in mind the four key pillars of investing:Appreciation – Focus on how your property’s value grows over time.Cash Flow – Assess your rental income after accounting for all expenses.Tax Benefits – Leverage deductions like depreciation to reduce your tax burden.Debt Pay Down – Use rental income to pay down your mortgage, steadily building equity.Think of it like investing in a 401(k) with a long-term perspective—especially in California, where property values can appreciate significantly over time.

I cannot think of a way that you (the LL who stands to "benefit" by them repairing their own space that they are paying you to use) will come across in a positive way.Plus, the tenant who incurred damage due to the other tenant's leak, may have some legal rights to have the tenant with the leaking pipes pay for the repair in both spaces.Now, beyond the legal side, you also need cognizant that most mom and pop tenants (which I assume these are) are not great with their money.  

That was the biggest benefit that came up time and again was the amount of time that they stay in the property reducing turnover.

As a property manager, creating a standard that establishes the trifecta of benefits and tension is good. 

The goal of real estate is to have the big FOUR - cash flow, equity, appreciation, and tax benefits.

You are in a great spot to re-start your journey, especially with the help of your VA benefits and service to your country.

Most I know fully disclose what they’re doing, the risks to the homeowner as well as the benefits, and will actually tell the homeowner id\f they think the homeowner has a better option.  

The link is http://www.dre.ca.gov/files/pdf/reb/rebspring_12.pdf and talks about licensed brokers legally paying finders and legally compensating unlicensed people... in CA, in other states, and how to pay people (indirectly) in other countries.

The wholesale channel is a lean business practice for the most part while with retail, there is significantly more expenses such as marketing, employee benefits, admin staff, etc.

You can certainly buy a property that cash flows immediately, but once you add a property management fee and the cost of someone to clean it between rentals (which can be much more expensive than an average cleaning if they have to do a trash-out), it may negate the benefit of buying in a lower-cost area. 3.