This past year has been my second year managing a long term rental, first time dealing with awful tenets.

My stepmother, rented the commercial space from the past landlord to open a coffee shop.

i think it's because of the tremendous rise in home equity in the past 5 years.i used a HELOC to (1) help with a down payment on a short term loan, that I then paid back in full when I refinanced; and (2) to consolidate some higher interest debt, which I am now paying back by making extra payments against the principal since HELOCs are generally interest only for the first 5-10 years. 

I have allowed them to do this for the past six months, and I haven’t really received a valid excuse or reason why it’s happening besides a simple “sorry.”

In the past, the Department of HUD targeted S8 rents to be at the lower end of a rental market.

If they are deemed responsible have them pay now out of pocket, or worst case you cover it and come up with a written payment plan for it (but ask an attorney about that for sure).Too many people use their deposit as last month's rent at move-out even when they're not supposed to, and now you have past damages (this incident) and any potential move-out damages or costs that have not been covered. 

My brokerage has been tracking the data from the West Penn MLS for the past 2 years, and I would like to share some of the highlights so that we all have some hard facts to lean on when answering this question.

For me doing this gives me the flexibility that if something comes up I could use this savings in two ways for emergencies and for my savings goal.I have in the past taken more risk and put the money in low cost index funds within my taxable brokerage account like VOO but there is risk here. 

I met with the contractor Sanborn Construction Group but being out of state wanted to see if anyone had worked with them in the past and could give a refferal good or bad. 

We also have 2 investment properties within about a 15 min drive of where we live.