Even if you do everything right, you have no control over the economy and could be underwater. 

You'll have to find an answer based on zoning, demand, and your ability to control the appearance of the additional improvements - you don't want to create a junk yard behind your triplex!

Don't do it.Life is too short to accept high risk tenants like her.You have no control over the husband.

Apparently not in my jurisdiction (but they went easy on one item that had a manufacturing date pre need for permit by removing some of the requirements but did I still needed the permit and associated fees)  Next is AB1482 (rent control).

We always build less square feet so we can capture the highest price per square foot. you can't control your market economics so building and designing and constructing around them is good. 200 sq ft less might be a huge pool or another amenity.

The idea is to simply not own anything in your name, but control everything, and making it very difficult to collect a judgment.

It's a little tough to know where pricing and interest rates will be in 3 years, but that's out of our control. 

Maybe see if your local flood control authority or whoever at the city would want it and maybe pay a nominal amount for it.

Hey @Ryan Brown - if you've provided the splits and tenants have ability to control their own temperature, then I can't imagine why you would be further responsible for the tenants unit temperatures. 

Controlling payments can help, but its really difficult to catch back up if the work wasn't completed correctly in the first place.