we grew up in the town, good neighborhood, apartments were going up around the area so we figured there's renters nearby How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

@Dan HeuscheleHey Dan, ya have many friends still training but physically unable to (parts of my body are still paralyzed).I see you’re in Poway, I myself grew up in a scripps Ranch.

For example if you grew up in Hopkins you would likely know every part of the city and whats improving and declining.Your market is the twin cities area and the demand for rental housing, price to rents, and future trends.You need to know your city and what they expect from landlords and the costs involved in compliance.Neighborhoods are not the same block by block some have good demand blocks and others have undesirable blocks.Knowing your block would be understanding that the houses in a certain part of the neighborhood are In high demand because of the walking trail, proximity to transportation, or a school boundary, planned light rail, etc.

I have some friends who grew up in nearby Shrewsbury and could probably help in identifying good locations - but they aren't necessarily into real estate investing.In your experience, did you find there was a lot of competition for your property? 

I recently inherited a house in a faraway town close to where I grew up.

Born here, but actually grew up in Missoula, MT.

@Assaf Kehati Yes, I’m investing in small multi family (2-4 units) in Cincinnati, since I grew up there and understand the neighborhoods.

We survived the 2008-2010 great financial collapse and even grew as a result of it. 

I won’t go into the gory details of this, but I assumed the rent grew at the Rent CAGR rate (g in the formula) the money was invested at 2% (r, rate per period) with the number pf periods being 9.

Any advice is appreciated..I grew skeptical of Home Depot and Lowe's...I find they hardly ever have the best prices..most contractors go there because of convenience, but then again, most contractors pass the cost of the materials to their customers :)