I've seen hundreds of $800/mo or so tenants inquire with landlords about buying the home.

It's expensive but does pretty well, particularly for someone with hundreds or thousands of rentals.

Maybe if someone was trying to flip hundreds of houses a year.

If you're going negative a couple of hundred a month but appreciation is strong that is a win for me.

He tells me he can afford to rent a studio, and rather save the few hundred a month to sleep in his empty office at night.

I live and work here so I'm biased, but I've seen hundreds of out of state investors come here in the last year, so I'm not doing anything out of trend haha. 

Originally posted by @Alex Mao:@Jay Hinrichs Good valid pointAnd I had bay area investor who bought 4 plexs in PHX  for 350 k each and in 2010 they were trading for under 100k each.. when they go hundred % vacant and stay that way for more than a year.. you lose them. 

I didnt say it was a bad idea, I said terrible idea....Very simply, is it worth losing all of the tax benefits (potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars) for the off chance that you are named in a lawsuit that wouldnt be covered by some type of insurance?

This way they get a little cash in their pocket and a couple hundred every month until you sell or refinance.Even though they are friends, you are still an investor.

If you willing to go to 100+ you will find many, many syndications to choose from (literally hundreds are available every month).