Fingers crossed!

Keep working on your folks to shed the "we're homeowners" persona and find them a great rental... you can paint the vision of how they don't have to lift a finger to maintain the place.Good on you for wanting to help family.  

I’ve been waiting/searching for 10+ months for a quad to present itself and I happen to let it slip through my fingers.

What I didn't know is, in that particular city unlike the others in the C class neighborhoods, that this particular city apparently has an itchy trigger finger on issuing expensive violations.  

Realtors go through finger printing and background checks to make sure the individuals that have access to this information are responsible with it.

Two of the four I was able to get under contract, the other two are in the negotiation stage (fingers crossed).  

I'm hoping to purchase my first duplex or 4 unit sometime next year *fingers crossed*.

We had a similar issue with a much older home & yours may also be an easy fix if you have it assessed correctly.The poorly fitted gutter/flashing interface on our upper roof (to the right of the galvanized stack we removed) finally let go & a very small finger sized hole let in the moisture.The fix could have been a simple bandaid but I decided to replace the 1987 roof instead. (24 square on a Sunday with 8 guys helping $5k).But it then required the 'surgical' removal of one section of moldy kitchen ceiling drywall.

Or, you might take a more "active" investing strategy by looking at sectors, which can be good, especially if you've got a finger on the pulse for market trends.

I'll keep my finger cross.