This house had 12” of water/ice in the basement... there’s a nice sump pump set up just sitting there with no power...

Pretty cool I suppose. 

So at the end of the 5 years, you are just treading water with the lower price point home, while you made headway with the other one. 

The only way that works is if they have fully connected utilities and it is sitting on some kind of foundation and not on a trailer.Some folks think they are cool, but you really limit yourself on demographics.

DT Long Beach: beachy urban setting with smaller units 1bdr; close to tourist attractions, and thinking I can STR one unit; BUT high crime rate (90 percentile); properties are older but more attractiveIs it better to go into a slightly better neighborhood in boring Riverside or a more crime ridden area of cool kid Long Beach?

Very cool to see lenders out there with an understanding of medium-term rentals!

If it is, I would do whatever I could to get good paying tenants in there right away,  If it is vacant, you are going to be running through cash like water through a sieve. 

If I buy a house for $400k, and the market drops and the house is now worth $300k, I am under water.

I got a very good price on the building (about $25k per door), but it was a ton of work as in addition to tenant issues, there was TONS of physical distress (foundation repairs, sewer line and water line repairs, electrical upgrades, new roof, and apartment renovations needed for all units). 

However, if for example, the company did not install or disconnect the washer and dryer correctly (such as leaving a valve on) while water is turned off prematurely, causing damage, what language do you put in the Lease to also hold other parties accountable such as ALE and appliance install company?