Although it is grandfathered, the city will not allow for another duplex to be built here if it is burned down.

It's good to be driven, but make sure you don't stretch yourself too thin otherwise you'll get burned out!

I look at things this way, if a tenant has renters insurance and the owner has homeowners insurance in the event your home burns down the tenant isn't placing a claim on on the structure and getting a paid for it.

If you aren't going to make it a legal unit, don't bother.This.Safety.If the place actually burned down/flooded out/etc., I would think insurance might re-think they "oh, no worries" approach and try to find a loophole so they don't have to pay your claim.

But $500 is cheap, and you'll wish you had it when you're standing in front of an $80,000 burned out wreck.

With this, you get 13 months of rent revenue for every 12 months of expenses Your tenants have an easier and less painful experience coming up with 2 weeks of rent at a time instead of saving for the first of the month and letting that rent payment cash burn a hole in their pockets (or accumulate during the month and going towards another bill)If they don't come up with a 2 week payment, they might only get a half of a month behind instead of a full month.

I win in all situations even if it burns down.Also with this option we do not have to worry about taxes (which hurt every time we have to pay them) or maintenance.

You being so handy is a great plus to start out with, you won't get burned.

Generally speaking they got burned because they didn't know what they were doing, didn't offer full disclosure and made promises they couldn't keep!

I have never come across the scenario above, but if we got word that the house burned down over the weekend we would obviously contact the title company right away and tell them to pull the recording and we wouldn't move forward with the purchase or close escrow.What if the seller returned to the house over the weekend and busted up the walls (it's still his house, right)?