I ran a check on one of my prospects for the office space and the service returned as 'Decline' because of a criminal record on file that happened 22 years ago for possession of a control substance.What would you do in this case, for a residential customer I would have simply declined , but for a office space , with small enough rent, should I take a risk of rent it to him?

In my apartments one apartment could not even control the heat. 

Greater than 4 housing units in a building classes it as commercial.Building codes are usually controlled at a county level and vary across our country.

In effect, anyone who owns a home or wishes to own a home has control over you and your ability to invest.Hence my comment about self-imposed rules. 

I prefer to stay in control, and if a judge thinks I've overstepped my boundaries we can discuss it then.  

Trust provides more control and flexibility in planning.

For a SFH, this is not as much of an issue as it is for a apartment community because for an apartment community you need to know (control) who is in there to get your best returns when renting the other units--not so for a SFH.Good Luck! 

For California investors like us they use Delaware statutory trusts instead of LLC structures. 

Logan...these single families will each be owned by a Single Purpose Delaware LLC so yes will liquidate and 1031 into new properties and when a certain dollar amount is saved from 1031's of appreciated properties move on into multifamily..so I have a sound strategy in place.Chris, since these properties will be in an area that is today not quite frothy yet like Sparks Nevada there will be very low cash flow for the first 12 months as I have to keep rents in line with comparable properties in the area.

Unfortunately, term leases give the control of your property back to the tenant.