thanks for suggestions I'm not totally following what you mean by "make it a little warmer"Is the goal to get a water heater that works for your home, or are you looking to add a small supplemental heater downstream from your existing water heater?

A friend of mine is considering it not necessarily for sole investing, but living there and just using the upstairs as a mortgage supplement.

With the current loan we would need to raise too much capital to get a good cash on cash return so I started looking for a supplemental loan.

Right now, I'm supplementing myself with the podcasts and will be reading the Ultimate Beginners Guide in the next week!

I have faced similar problems in other areas , for ex , I wanted to find a nutritionist/doctor who can help with tweaking my food and suggest supplements to resolve my insomnia and some mild depression i was experiencing around 7 yrs ago .

You do not make money in business by supplementing your tenants rent, that is charity.

LOL.Yes I am an appraiser which is why I chuckle with my advice.Figuring ARV is not rocket science, but it does require access to meaningful sources of data for the best results.Appraisers have access and are the best choice.Realtors have access and are the second best choice.Being your own appraiser trumps all choices.Being a good appraiser includes compiling as many sources of data as possible, this could be doing your own research, then supplementing it with an appraiser and a realtor.

To date, that is the only rental property that we have but we've decided that moving forward we want to start growing our portfolio with the goal of supplementing our income, growing a business and eventually, obtaining financial freedom. 

I started out using my license as a supplemental form of income as well.

And option three is you are upfront with them and price the unit accordingly, accounting for anticipated electric costs for running supplemental space heaters on the tenant's dime.