don't talk about if you should hire a realtor or not" ----The problem is most viewpoints will be skewed based on isolated experiences.

It could also be because of structural issues like over deflection in header beams and columns or more isolated structural problems.Jassem,I agree with older structures having most of their secondary settlement dissipated but the only true way to tell is by collecting soil samples and doing laboratory tests and/or establishing a benchmark somewhere on the foundation and measuring the change in elevation over-time.

The trick is being able to divine amongst shades of grey and isolate the ones that are a good risk from those that are not.

A good structure will isolate your personal assets, as well as isolate Property A from Property B so if A hurts someone, B is still cash flowing.

@Adam ChristopherIf your expenses have been lagging inflation, it is an enviable, but transitory, situation as costs will increase to catch-up ... the increased rents themselves fuel local inflation and lead to increases in the costs of goods (retail) and services (labour).Unless your rents have been rising in isolation of the market - in which case, they will eventually encounter a demand limit - the growth rate will flatten (if vacancy is <1%, barring a zoning/regulatory restriction, you will eventually see an increase in supply).The premise behind this 50% rule-of-thumb - and other such guidelines - is that over a large sample size of property and/or a large sample period of time, the cumulative operating costs and capital re-investment are going to approach 50% (somewhere in the 40% - 60% window as stated earlier).  

It was extremely isolated, no jobs, and  the roads were horrible.

I never see them say how they split those out or if they even do isolate those.   

The parents refuse to help, she's making enough money to get her own place, she ends up alone, isolated, ostracized, and in a very brittle place.

Second, in terms of asset protection, as some have mentioned, LLCs are not invincible, but I think what many don’t understand is that they are not designed to completely shield your assets from liabilities, on the contrary they are designed to contain and isolate liabilities.

You are coming from a negotiation point of weakness to a holdout who is like indifferent to your situation and unlikely that your sales skills will convince him to sign, especially if he’s isolated and has substance abuse issues.