My experience of human nature is that if he already has the money, he's less likely to be concerned about his performance and if we're happy with him or not, etc.Another option is to wait until the summer months where the service calls are 3x/month, and then let the vendor opt to take the $550 average per month - that way we have the leverage if he decides to quit early or if we're not happy with the work - if anything, we would owe him money instead of him owing us service.So one factor is who has the leverage.The other factor is if there's a benefit to having the monthly costs consistent every month - does this matter to you as an owner / property manager?

Specifically if a given property has updated systems and is held for a shorter period, the Cap Ex budgeted would be lower than a long-term hold with dated plumbing, electrical and requiring a new roof.Better to over estimate and have plenty of reserves just in case instead of the alternative.

People still need to go away, even during a recession, and Big Bear will offer an inexpensive alternative most nights and weekends, with inexpensive family activities.

Alternatively you could consider financing with another bank or mortgage broker, or look for hard money loans. 

Another alternative is what we do, which is help you get setup with business lines of credit so it's not tied to a property and does not show up on your personal credit report.

Instead, perhaps look into alternative financing so that if things don't pan out, you can then tap into that $100k your grandparents are willing to pony up. 

The difference between me and other investment alternatives sometimes is I do not hard sell anyone.

I've found in many cases the margins in real estate are not good enough if management is an expense.As an alternate solution, and I'm not sure how many investors do this (I do, my partner lives out of state), but I would say a solution might be to partner with someone in the market you want to invest in.

If you're looking still looking at class A you should look into areas that are restricting new construction (or where development opportunities are naturally limited).

We think we’ll live here 1-5 years before buying our forever home.I’m open to alternative scenarios I haven’t thought of.