.: Cost of risk scenario. 

.👉 Adjust your expectations—this business is about consistent effort, not overnight success.2️⃣ INACTION IS COSTING YOU DEALSEver stare at a lead and overanalyze every detail?

It is easy to underestimate the timeline.It is easy to underestimate loan costs.

Platforms like Avail can help if you prefer to self-manage but still require time for repairs.Tax-wise, repair costs may be deductible immediately, while major improvements must be depreciated over 27.5 years.

There is more maintenance cost when they are small keeping the grass down.  

Since rental losses are typically passive, the best way to offset W-2 income is through Real Estate Professional Status (REPS) (750+ hours) or Short-Term Rentals (STRs) (100+ hours and more time than anyone else managing the property), which allow real estate losses, including depreciation, to offset active income.A cost segregation study accelerates depreciation, generating large upfront deductions.

I'm with you that sidewalk slip and fall litigation may be less likely in the Midwest than say Mid Atlantic which tends to have more litigious cities but dismissing premises liability issues can come back to bite an investor and when these properties have such razor thin margins that an investor must consider the cost benefit analysis of safety against ROI, there is a real estate issue and is usually a losing proposition.   

It could be anything... a mistake in estimating, a cost overrun, or something like the place burns down and the insurance wasn't properly taken out, or theft (of the money outright) or theft of materials along the way.    

In my market the valuation with f/f non commercial financing is typically lower than the hands off cost of adding the ADU.  

So, the extra unit may cost you more then it brings if you cannot access equity or if the market discounts the property when you go to sell due to financing available.