Even then it might beat what Cleveland has. lolI agree with you that it is one part of the equation, but it's such a constant.

@Shawn Smith I suggest you read this article:  How to Effectively Conduct Joint Venture Agreements as a Real Estate Investor and this thread taking-on-partner-s-and-limiting-our-liabilites. 

You can't concentrate on your business if you are constantly providing interrogatories, attending depositions and hearings, providing exhibits and meeting with attorneys. 

Fun Fact:  if you take a purely hypothetical 'break even' property at 100k with 20% down, where the rents equal the mortgage plus expenses, and assume that rents rise at the same level as inflation then after the first year your break even property will start to turn a small profit since rent went up, and while your expenses went up, they did not go up as fast because your biggest expense (debt service) stays constant. 

@Johnny Champa @Amanda Johnson Account Closed **this place is next to REI in the old mill and we'll take the 'conference' room just at the entry way to the joint.

Under Section 121 of the Internal Revenue Code, if you live in the property and owned the property for 2 out of the 5 years prior to the date of sale, you can exclude up to $250,000 of gain ($500,000 if married filing joint). 

Since houses built prior to 1978 usually contain lead in them the paint is constantly going to need to be touched up, scraped, repainted etc.

My problem is that my Neighbor who is about 17-19 and his girlfriend are constantly smoking weed in the hallway and the smell is coming into my home.

The lesson I've learned is the market constantly ebbs and flows. 

How do you recommend that someone like myself, and others seeking private money lenders, prepare ourselves in order to be an educator, advocate, and partner (not in the legal definition of joint ownership but in the non adversarial perspective of wanting to be helpful) for our current and future lenders so that the situation is a win-win for everyone involved?