I might also increase the requirements tenants must meet to be approved.

My husband and I are looking to buy our first ever real estate investment out of state (we live and rent in NYC. we do not want to buy here due to high cost of properties and high tax rates).

The tenant has been a problem from the beginning, such as behind in rent for a year, buys a brand-new Jeep, lies about ex-husbands job, child support, court cases, etc...Now, the house needs a new deck, so I went up to inspect it.

If our intent is to live in a unit and rent out the other unit, will that be a residential or a commercial loan?  

I would think 1-2% increases for expenses make sense.

(i.e. have RE prices increased in the area, is there room for additional appreciation, how is the STR and LT rental market, any new housing or commercial developments?

I've never been the landlord for a commercial property but have leased commercial property before - I leased through a commercial real estate agent who was acting as a leasing agent for the property owner, and the property owner was the one who collected my rent and is who I made repair requests to so personally haven't dealt with a Commercial PM before but will continue to follow this thread to learn more!

However, during that time period, they were supposedly renting from a family member, so I don't fully trust that.So, most likely the applicant was being dishonest.

The most popular way to speed up your real estate growth is to buy fixer-uppers, rehab them with mostly sweat equity, rent them out for significantly more than 1% of your total purchase price per month, and then refinance the property to extract as much money as possible for your next down payment.It’s doable, but you need to find the worst property on the nicest block, as this will play a significant role in your refinance discussions later.Let me know if you would like to chat more and learn about the Toledo market, which is well-suited for what you are looking to do.Best regards,Phillip DakhnovetsGuardian Property Management419-740-0370

Would it be a beneficial/does it make sense to run the "business" transactions through the LLC (collecting rent, maintenance/repairs, etc)?