Thirty years ago, no one could have foreseen the huge expansion of the Vietnam War, wage and price controls, two oil shocks, the resignation of a president, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, a one-day drop in the Dow of 508 points, or treasury bill yields fluctuating between 2.8% and 17.4%.

The first two often get hit with special assessments to keep up appearance for everybody.All types are subject to special assessments when the HOA has not sufficiently funded reserves and now needs to fund some replacements, repairs or improvements.So, ask about the reserve accounts and what items are targeted to be replaced with those funds.And I would want to know the history of the dues being assessed, to see whether it is stable or wildly fluctuating.

I work as a server so my money fluctuates as I decide how much I want to work any given week.

6% to private investors in hopes to get an interest rate similar and less than the rate to private investors with a longer term, but that obviously could not be the case because of fluctuation of rates all the time.

We do accept section 8 vouchers in this also will cause the income ratio amounts to fluctuate as the most important thing is the amount of section 8 voucher.

Rates could obviously go either way and there is no way to predict which way it will be.Lenders frequently want a short lock window to decrease their exposure to rate fluctuations and they reward borrowers for accepting the shorter lock period with lower rates.

He will have social security and some pension, so he will have an income, one that would support a $1200 payment on a place (and have money left for other expenses, including maintenance on a place as it is new so there should be minimal).I think it would be best to have that payment locked in for the rest of his life so that if rents fluctuate he won't have to worry.

HOA fees don't fluctuate, so its very easy to know what the cost will be and factor it into your expenses along with repairs and capital expenses.I suggest you keep it simple and keep the tenant paying you only rent (and water if its a shared meter).

Since multi-family units are priced based on income provided to the owner, are the less susceptible to market fluctuations(from a long term buy and hold view)?

@Josh Setterbo, the fed does not set mortgage interest rates, but interest rate pricing does fluctuate day to day.The difference between those two options is about $2400, which is 75 basis points for a ~$322k loan amount (hope you don't mind that I backed into it from your P&I payment). 75 basis points for 1/8 to rate is a bit pricey of a buy-down; the price ranges from 25 basis points on the low end to 80 on the high end. 109 month break-even, meaning the higher interest rate is actually better unless you are certain that you will own the place for at least 9 years without refinancing (for example if you are going to refinance to drop PMI in <9 years).So that's my little picture advice.