Some investors think I am crazy doing that and perhaps so, but I take other people's money seriously and even when the crap hits the fan (and it will if you do enough deals for a long enough period of time), paying back your lender is priority one in my book.Most of my deals for private money also include a balloon payment rather than monthly payments.

Plus with HELOC's you can only pull what you actually need and pay it down/pull the cash out as you need it.

I pay for the lawn care, pest control, Surevestor, actually replace the air filters, and that's the only fee an owner ever pays. 

The residents do not cause problems, they are generally on social security so if you give them a 5% discount they will pay their rent a year in advance, and they will host fundraisers to improve "their" clubhouse.

We dont have any section 8 houses in Beachwood but in Shaker we have seen closer to 1650 (owner pays water and sewer). 

Also, with point 4 - is 18 months not a very short window to pay down the cost of a home?

We allow guests to pay 50% at time of booking on the Airbnb platform.

If you are developing ground up construction and have another w2...would that qualify yours a RE professional?

Reno, NV has some good multifamily opportunities and in this area it's better to buy and rehab than to build from ground up. 

I purchased a townhome last year in Nevada & I have tenants who are paying off the mortgage.