I’m pretty sure we could get a receipt, to show them the charge, when we pay him.

If they do, you may have a chance under the scenario you're proposing - if they share your concern for it's condition (although that seems unlikely since they've been living with it the way it is for some time, it seems).If you own it, it's pretty lowbrow to expect a neighbor to invest in your property. 

You’re not overleveraged, so you’re in pretty good condition to ride out a downturn.  

I looked at Sapphire pretty hard last year, and made a couple of offers there, but in the end decided it wasn't the market for me.

CrowdStreet is pretty good, too.

I had a few phone calls with Pricelabs, and their basic premise was pretty convincing:  "We are going to help you book your rental for as much as we can, as often as we can." 

Hey Themis, it sounds like you already have a solid foundation in real estate from working in the commercial industry, so it should be a pretty smooth transition into doing your own investments.I would put a lot of focus on building out your team of contractors.

8%-11% is pretty standard here and as someone mentioned it really just depends on how the company is run.

@Ian Kibbe digging down the basement is pretty pricey and it depends on the existing footing and the state of the existing foundation.

@Owen Rosen the links you shared pretty much only state a tenant shouldn't have to supply liability coverage to their landlord.Of course they will say this as the provider does NOT want the extra liability of covering additional parties!