As long as the heat pump you choose can handle the coldest night you will encounter you can go with just a heat pump, otherwise you need some supplemental source of heat whether a gas furnace or an electric heat pack.

Adults learn best in person, and you can supplement with online, but that should not be primary.#2...Ask to see the training calendar...same thing...no calendar...then you have to question if it will happen and when.#3...Ask how much it costs...especially when you are new and perhaps don't have significant real estate revenue stream.#4...Ask their expectations of you?

You need to back it up with supplemental data from Airbnb/VRBO.

I am a buy and hold guy, I do not need the cash flow to supplement my income but I also don't want to lose money or have terrible returns.

I always feel no matter what you do, or what course you go with, you continue to use BP and the other valuable resources to supplement and continue your education.If you've not listened to podcasts (especially the Flipping Junkie podcast and the BP podcast ;)), you should definitely start there.  

Consider other ways to supplement your income while you build your REI business.

If she can provide a legitimately good reason for the bankruptcy and has documentation to supplement her reasoning she may be worth considering.

I can supplement this with the rental income from the best SFRs and multifamily already in the portfolio and call it a day.If I didn't mind adding additional rentals and the incremental management involved I would go SFR buy and hold all the way but unfortunately after the recent price run up I would not be very interested in the 5% returns that the market is offering.

,Consider downloading my "2013 Housing Market Forecast" to supplement your spreadsheet.Having a higher average rent relative to the average property value is good but only one part of the bigger picture.You want to consider the health of the local economy (jobs and job growth, employment trends, migration in and out, etc.)Next you want to consider the neighborhood, and finally a close look at the property itself in terms of cash flow, cash-on-cash return, and total ROI.I bought some property in specific parts of Detroit in early 2004 when things were looking 'up' for the city.

He can take the cash, invest it and pay the lower rent. 200k should be a good supplement to his income to 100