If you're the sort that would buy real estate sight unseen, I'd say a condo is lower risk than that.

Now one of the reasons I like this house is because of its larger than average lot size in jersey city and the idea that someday I might be able to convert it into something bigger, say a 4 family house.

I set my Auto deductible to 2500 and the intent is to protect ONLY from massive damage and/or as they say "a total writeoff".When we had a fire in '13, Farmers was just the best and payoff quickly to provide $95k for restoration.

I think that is important to say as DF when brought up on these boards sparks whirlwinds of confusion and speculation for some.  

Light a candle, say a prayer, and remember every day is precious... we'll all end up in the same place eventually. 

@Ray Egan It's pretty simple....you can get a 30 year loan in one of two ways.1) Owner occupied conventional, like you have done in the pat....1 year occupancy required2) NON Owner (investment) occupied conventional, requires 20% minimum down, no occupancy required.There is NO flexibility in these conventional loans as it is Not the lender's option to modify, it's a Fannie/Freddie requirement.HML can not lend on an owner occupied And their payments will be Way more than say a Not Conventional, commercial loan with a Slightly higher payment, 20 verses 30 year amortization and slightly higher interest rate.

My biggest concern would be the other owners trying to squeeze you out i.e. if they have the control over the votes they could vote for some huge capital investment and force you to pay say a $40,000 assessment which you might not have the money for thus allowing them to purchase your unit at a low price since you may not be able to sell it or pay the assessment.

It will go "under contract" with say a high bid of like 32, 000 and then my husband will get an email saying they are excepting back up bids starting at 54, 000?  

Let's say a guy operates a welding business out of his home and he has $10,000 in welding equipment in the garage.

A multi w a heavy down payment will provide great cash flow (assuming a well performing property).On top of that with a multi, lets say a 12 plex, if you have 1-2 vacancies your still receiving cash flow/rent from the other tenants.