Also, multi-unit sales involve more legal and financial nuances than single family homes so it will be in your best interests to work with an agent.

Make sure it explicitly explains the process for termination if you are unhappy with their services, especially if they violate the terms of your agreement.3.

Real estate there is generally not tied to a single plant or industry.

It is improving, meaning sellers and builders are facing a little more competition, but there is still a shortage of housing units in the region. 3) Rental prices are strong and single family homes and townhouses rent very quickly.

Access to Larger Loan Amounts: Cross collateralization allows borrowers to leverage multiple properties, which can lead to a higher overall loan amount than what might be possible with a single property.2.

MLS is pretty good for single family comps because most people list their home with a Realtor.

If not, you can always increase the rent to market value, but my guess is it being California, there are limits to rent increases.There are rent caps but they do not apply to single family homes owned by individuals (not LLCs or Corps) 

Depending on where you are looking, inventory for 1-4 units can be a challenge as a lot of the NW suburbs are all single family homes unless you are further NW like Rockford or Elgin or something like that. 

. $59.99 Keurig K-Mini single serve coffee maker - https://www.amazon.com/Keurig-K-Mini-Single-Serve-Coffee/dp/...Great for a second coffee space.

I understand equity and cash-flow are related, but what I mean is that I don't need the cash flow right now as much as I'd like to build a strong portfolio that can cash flow even more later on.I've owned a single-family rental for 4 years, but on mulitple fronts I felt like I've done a poor job self-managing it, so this Fall I picked up the Turners' book on managing rentals and that's what led me here to Bigger Pockets online.