Prepayment penalties- usually 1-5 year terms.

This could be just specific to the real estate industry, but in both recruiting and cybersecurity consultants (hackers for hire), the ones that start their own business/consultancy, are the ones who after spending 2 years (usually exactly 2 years which is when recruiters will message them), the high performer will either 1.

Overall i am pretty sure that you and I are in agreement - people usually underestimate the expenses, so it is always good to err on the side of having more reserve.

This can be very expensive and is usually the worst choice because you can't justify the cost.2.

Rents for medium term rentals usually range from 1.5 times to 2 times the normal rent for a place.

As far as rate is concerned, you can usually go about two points over the current rate (less closing costs for a seller financed deal so there is no real expense there) You need to make sure the borrower can cover that.

An LOI isn't usually a big deal and I've had properties ask to sign one before a viewing and there wasn't anything fishy going on with those.

However, the biggest con is that you are sacrificing a bit of your privacy by living right by your tenants and it is usually a lot more stressful since everything is your responsibility - managing tenant issues, handyman repairs, taking care of the lawn, etc.I would strongly recommend house hacking especially in the Columbus Ohio market!

If curious, here are the last two: Jan 2023: Multifamily Real Estate is At Risk of CrashingFeb 2024: Multifamily is at High Risk of Continuing It's Historic CrashI think that the title for my 2025 analysis (likely Jan/Feb publication will be something more like:Multifamily is Finally Going to Hit Rock Bottom in Q2/Q3 2025 - Get Ready to Buy a LOT of itAs usual, I like to publish my draft thoughts here to get input from key players in the space and these forums, especially folks like @Brian Burke, to see if I am missing any high level areas, before I get into the weeds and look at the data more deeply and regionally. 

I'm also open to discussing the properties I have purchased, analyzing which deals have been successful and which ones have not.In my experience, out-of-state investors who buy single-family homes in the suburbs usually see better returns.