Your post suggests that your rental property will cash flow even when the numbers say it won't, because:[x] You think cash flow is anything left over after the mortgage payment[ ] Your market is different[x] You expect costs to be lower than established estimates from experienced investors[ ] Your seller/realtor/wholesaler/mother/dentist said it was a good deal[ ] You are banking on appreciation/tax benefits/accidental rent overpayment/lottery[ ] You are planning on making a large down payment[ ] You are willing to take a loss now for tenant-subsidized mortgage paydown[ ] You learned a new technique and it only cost you $2k to learn from guru #593557You are wrong.

But someone with no visible means of support might also be a millionaire who inherited the money, won the lottery, or cashed out stock options from a start-up, and now wants to take time off.

Is one property and a lottery ticket at appreciation really better than 5 or 6 that cashflow? 

It's similar to the lottery winner of $a million, who has continued bad decisions and blows it all.

There are a lot of stipulations when dealing with section 8, but the people in the program go through a lottery system to get approved for the program.

Oddly enough, whenever I suggested investing his money instead of buying lottery tickets, he always pooh-poohed my ideas, saying that it was too risky. 

Maybe he inherited a lot of money or won the lottery and doesn't need to work.Stop worrying about what might be and live in reality.

In other words, he would need to hit the lottery again.Finally, having found a rock star realtor and purchasing a great deal, then finding rock star contractors to fix it up for him right and at a decent price, he then moves on to rent it.

The lottery winners.

I have read Jefferson county have a lottery instead of an auction.