I've heard that Howard county allows building and renting out ADUs, but the permitting and becoming a landlord process can be a pain.Looks like Anne Arundel allows building ADUs and renting out short-term (but not long-term?)

No, that lender definitely gave you bad information.It is absolutely NOT necessary to leave a balance on your credit cards, if you are going to carry a balance make sure it stays at less than 30% of the limit.What builds your credit score is the monthly reporting of "Paid As Agreed" if you owe 0 and you pay 0 then you are paid as agreed.

This rich area lets them buy buildings with many homes without paying upfront and at good loan rates while also using their VA loan perks.Good luck!

Not before that long it could become more interesting for you than for us here.Now, for us building a portfolio of rentals (and btw also an option for Americans), we avoid this by not doing it as an individual but with a company (SL) and changing it to company tax (first two years 15% and after this 25%) and creatively deduct way more costs.It is true though that this is a good way if your strategy is to reinvest your money time by time building something bigger/passing it along to kids/relatives etc, because when you want to take money out of your company you would need to pay dividend tax or in the form as a salary.   

I've been developing and managing our buildings since the late 70s. 

, subdivide into 3 lots, build 2 duplexes and a single-fam for myself.

A Stanford study revealed that over 75% of the ADUs built in San Jose between 2016 and 2020 did not have a permit and are therefore illegal housing units.The lengthy permitting process, high construction costs, and shortage of tradespeople are some of the factors motivating property owners and contractors to take on the risk of building, renting to tenants, and/or housing family & friends in an illegal unit.

@Mohamad Guene  Simple answer - you will be cash flow negative, and your appreciation will be limited.We did a new build once for a rental - it performed miserably cash flow wise despite a great location and property - we ended up selling it 3 years later.There are very few new builds in Huntsville proper - are you referring to an outlying area like New Market or Meridianville?

I might have a better shot at it if build a portfolio of properties and sell them all together as a business.

- Are there certain areas you would stay away from and why (eg, high crime, bad schools, poor quality builds, etc)?