I believe the safety is solid for my wife and me; in fact, we are about to start having children here.

My Atlanta property appraised for $320k and I owe $65k at 6 1/2% ARM (with 1% cap/yr). 

I'd be in one heck of a situation if I had all of my units go vacant for a month or two, and expect to have that money to pay expenses...and no safety net.However, what if you could take your side of the equity and find your feet. 

Operations- tenants refusals, either cull them before they get to you by requiring autopay as an example, document on their application why you refused them, make sure your facilities are maintained properly and no safety hazards exist, etcLLC.

My questions are:- is it worth investing there in terms of the safety of tenants?

Definitely go the legal route here, don't rent out the basement unless you have the OK from the relevant authorities--it's regulated for a reason (fire safety, carbon monoxide poisoning, etc.) and your insurance will not have your back if something goes wrong.

The difference between a safety line and a safety net is that a safety net (your words) can break one line and still hold a fish. 

He has no safety net so I don't think its wise to take the risk because if he did a deal, lost disability and then since hes brand new to REI lets say it takes a while until he gets his next deal I just want to help advise him best!

For the most part its just health and safety items, which are items we should have remedied anyways.As someone else mentioned, biggest thing to avoid is having the house tagged as vacant which the city will do if it sits empty for too long (handful of months, grass not cut, etc).

I do plan to buy a property with 30% to 50% off and have it "acts" as a margin of safety.