A project like that will probably take 6 months to 1 year, so what's your expectation for future rents?

Also, clear communication with your parents about goals, risks, and expectations will also help avoid tension.

People don't read STR descriptions you see this alot with international properties where people expect US standards.

One of the biggest challenges of investing in Rustbelt cities is knowing where to invest and properly understanding the cooresponding pros & cons.Here's copy & paste advice we share to help to address this challenge:-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a Class A property in Class D area, what quality of tenant will you get?

I would caution you not to necessarily expect your NOI to be higher because you achieve higher rents leasing units to Section 8 tenants.

Expect the unexpected and give it a number.

I'm ready to pay 10-20% and fully expect lenders to want some control over the rehab.

You are limited in your options if something worse should come along later, such as a large investment going bad.If $10,000 CDN is a show stopper for you, how do you expect to manage a $600,000 CDN property? 

I too live in Marin, and feel it is a solid long term market for apprecaition, and utilizing the power of principle reduction.When it comes to refinancing, figure out what the loan costs will be, then divide that buy the monthly savings with the new loan in order to determine how long you have to maintain that loan to break even. 

In the markets I watch, now nearly 60% of listings are EXPECTING to pay a commission, but asking the buyer to SET the buyer agent commission amount, and making that part of the offer discussion.