I chose this larger apartment because I had initially planned to rent out the spare bed + bath for $700-800/mo, but he stopped me because he 'wanted to ensure our privacy.' 

So, if the top dollar people are getting for a comparable rental is $1350 and the average is $1200, coming in at $1100 could attract not only LESS qualified tenants but also a LARGER number of QUALIFIED tenants.

We build single family too and larger assets we are in entitlements but we have a standard product for the triplex. we build 668 sq ft. our goal was the smallest two bed possible to create maximum rents per sq ft and max equity and lowest build cost.

What helped me build confidence were the following:-Listening to as many podcasts including BP as possible-Utilizing the miracle morning routine daily-Read as many real estate investing books that I could get my hands on-Attending as many local real estate meetups as possible-Finding a mentor that was doing what I wanted to do at a larger scale and providing him immense value so he would take me under his wing-Starting my own local real estate meetup-Walk as many properties as possible and make offers.

You can change the 17 days to a larger number but it weakens your offer.  

Bring in the big dogs. 

Can this be scaled to offset larger items?

How is the capital gain calculated if I live in the larger unit for 2 yrs? 

For their upcoming renewal, I would like to draw up a brand-new lease and add an updated pet policy so they will know my rules if I give written permission (they have asked us to consider a dog- which current lease says no pets, but considered case-by-case). 

We agreed to market his utility through our business brokerage division, and received multiple offers from larger water utilities netting the seller $millions.2.