Not that I am into that side of things as I have a property manager, however I have heard of others using it.legally, wouldnt 'play' with excuses to discriminate (ie, telling families their reference check didn't clear meanwhile 'preferring' studens for the unit or house) unless there was a bona-fide loophole to do so (ie, a statute allowing for an owner to Prefer Students for their Rental House because the owner is also a student living in the house). that's simply a risk i would not want to take unless i had a legit, legal reason for preferring students over any other family status for my rental house. labelling a rental property as 'Student Rental House' could have repercussions if not planned legally; ie back in college i stayed in 'Student Housing' but it was Off-Campus Housing OWNED by the university; i've never come across 'Student Housing' rentals unless it was a frat/sorority house or one owned or officially associated with local educational institutions. would love to see a loophole in your jurisdicton that allows for independent rental unit(s) to be dedicated to specifically students. ie, u could make a strong argument that for a 2 family house, the students in one unit might seem too noisy for a quiet, sensitive elderly coulple already living right below or smack next to them - or vice versa.good luck and by the way i do like the idea of what you are doing: at least considering mixed housing although yea there could be a conflict of interest and perhaps that could be your argument for preferring students since students might party often as compared to say, elderly families i guess?

Not sure if your city offers it, but one option is to have the local police department neighborhood conflict resolution department get involved. 

Doing it yourself will almost always cause a conflict with landlords that want their property to match their own specifications (not yours).  

But, I could not have legally managed any other properties for the owner I worked for, without getting my license and being affiliate with a broker - which of course would have made my a lot more expensive :-)So, really, in CA or otherwise, though, I think your costs and maintenance would be less in a multi-family apartment building.You will have to be more aware of tenant conflict, though. 

The value of a (good) attorney in drafting partnership documents is preventing catastrophic problems down the road when things do not go as expected (hint: they rarely do) or when you and your partner stop seeing eye to eye (hint: happens as often as spousal conflicts and subsequent divorces, which is pretty often).In fact, partnerships are very much like marriages in every other respect, too.

Sounds like they get paid when a tenant gets placed and you are seeing the conflict of interest first hand.

Hoping to get a solid answer to this question because I have been given conflicting information regarding buying properties at Sheriff sales.

From what I've seen about comps, there seems to be a lot of conflict over the process.

I see that there is a conflict between Old Detroit and New Detroit - some people might use the G-word (gentrification).  

Apart from your suggestion, I'm not sure there is any good way around that until I have a solid contact in most of the regions.I should also add that while there is occasionally a delicate balance that has to happen to avoid a conflict of interest, I prefer the listing broker/agent because they have the most information and are only 1 step removed from the seller.