If you make decisions, or if you predetermine future events based on the way they "sound", you are going to miss out on a lot of great opportunities.If the first time anyone heard any of the following statements:1 - I can build a set of monkey bars, out of wood, wire and cloth, and it will allow me to fly,2 - I'm going to take a bunch of "1's" and "0's", string them together in different patterns, and it will allow me to think about anything faster than the speed of light.3 - I'm going to eat a white oddly shaped ball, that came out of a chicken's....and it will taste great.4 - I'm going to collect and drink a whitish liquid that a cow had sprayed on the ground, and it will taste great....the words, "it sounds too good to be true" were overheard, and none of the above were done because everyone that heard those words believed them, we may never have the use of a computer, and airplane, and would not have been able to eat breakfast when hungry.Money doesn't make a noise, so money decisions shouldn't be based on what you hear...but by what you see.Credit cards work, if you are disciplined enough to work fast enough to pay them off before the interest kicks in.  

The owner/seller/vender takes a mortgage on a property in which they are also the vender.Rent-to-own can mean a variety of things:At one end of the spectrum you have a standard Lease (rent) with a separate Option to purchase (own) the property at a pre-determined price within a specific window in the future.  

You guys agree to a pre determined purchase price and you get something like a six month option to exercise it at that price or conditional upon his moving out.

Once you can answer that question you create the strategy of how to get there in your pre-determined time.. meaning is this a 1 year, 5 year , 20 or 30 year goal.. that will help determine the types of properties you end up buying based on the end goal...

Te is basically just life insurance with the coverage and premium locked in for a predetermined term.

You control the property with an Option to buy at a future date or event (death) at a set price (could be something like 100 times rent etc..)They still get to pass on to heir who pay no tax then sell to you at a predetermined price and pay no tax.

Depreciation is a tax deduction of your income that is factored from taking the price of the building (not including the land) and dividing it by its predetermined usable life (I think its factored on a 29 year life for residential).

That being said, given the difficulties of investing out-of-state, if you are concerned about a boom (and consequent bust in the future), perhaps instead of diversifying your RE portfolio, you could instead focus on 100% equity in your current portfolio, thus increasing your cash flow, and then cash out at a pre-determined sale point you set for yourself at some point in the near future?

Another option might be splitting profits on the STR with them for a predetermined period of time.

Hello I know that these loans have predetermined payment schedules for every month of the 30 yr note.