Sure sone of the stories from FI people are not the strategy that I would take but that’s is their path no mine.

For most people, a primary home is first and foremost a place to live, secondary a hedge against inflation, and tertiary a (hopeful) nominal return.

We don't provide a washer and dryer but have offered to rent those for a nominal fee but no one has taken us up on that.

Real interest rate = nominal rate minus rate of inflation.

But, you must systematically repay with nominal interest (3.5%)  over a maximum of 5-years.I believe these new rules expire in July.

Have an agreement where you collect some nominal amount (like $5), and call it "Security toward last month's rent" - a totally separate amount.

Inspection came back today with only nominally high radon, those appliance issues, and other minor stuff (rotting post in deck, etc). 

And cost would be nominal, leaving plenty to keep doing "aircraft carrier groups and the next sexy line of fighter jet's" because it's the sale of the MBS that "fund's" it all and cost is limited to creation of the agency of oversight, which as others have done can later be privatized. 

Generally these structures were built with actual true lumber not the nominal lumber we see today.  

So, I charged $0 to re-rent the property but charged a daily fee based on nominal rental rates for as long as it was vacant.