I am adding 4 external motion sensor lights on this property for security.  

Rik, There are great ways to add value to a unit that will lead to higher rents, external storage for an additional monthly charge or not including appliances as part of the rent and rent them for a monthly charge, really being creative with your investments and letting people ala carte their individual rental experience.

It really doesn't matter if the borrower may have external means to scrape up interest payments while the asset deteriorates.  

Or what are some external resources you found useful?

I've looked at houses near downtown (older houses built in the 1950-1970's) and have a friend who owns a rental down in the Beverly Green area and his bill is much higher due to the external ducting and poor insulation of those types of houses.

Condos are low maintenance because the condo association is there to help with many of the external repairs, leaving you to worry about the interior.

The only way to avoid an internal fitting is to use the very expensive SharkBite style external fittings.

I know of many factors that help drive appreciation, but none are precise and unexpected external factors (e.g.

To become a full-time IRA investor while relying on the IRA for income is in direct contradiction with this intent, assuming that the investor is not yet taking retirement distributions, and so I don't see how that would be possible without some external source of income.

Maybe you could still get a nice roof deck using the "traditional" layout of living at ground floor and beds on second with an internal stair through the bedroom level and up as well as an external spiral stair from an outdoor patio.