Then you add the art to the science and consider things like your job stability, property locations/demand, commission/salary, children/spouse or not...plus just your ability to sleep at night and add those to the equation.Good question and a good exercise to monitor your personal balance sheet regularly.  

I have some ideas for a couple light remodeling things they could do if necessary but being parents they typically will not listen to their children and have to hear the advice from someone else.  

Seller and her children received the home when her ex-husband passed away and she has power of attorney for her son. 804 sqr ft. built in 1942 on a 0.2 acre lot.

I had four children at the time and the home was very adequate.

I look forward to learning and growing in the real estate investment business and passing that information on to our children so they can be better prepared for their future. 

I held my CA real estate license and practiced for about a year before having children.

Its common in units with children and sometimes even with heavy footed adults..To show a ground floor only unit to someone with kids is called steering,,  if you have several apartments open you can't limit the upper levels to people without kids.. it makes sense but.. not legal..your more than likely to have this issue with the next tenant also that moves in..You could mention to upper level tenant you have main floor coming open if she'd want to transfer but even if you rent to people with kids in that same unit in the future they might object to the upper peoples kids noise, which could be basically normal just not easy to deal with..how many bedrooms is it.. sometimes it's better to limit number of occupants to each apartment.. to keep number of occupants at a minimum.. if they are 2 bedroom units.. you could just say 2 people,, legally you'd be able to rent to 4 persons,, but you can set the number of people as long as you stay consistent.. so all your 2 br units would be maximum of 2 people.. limited noise, limited people and you think it would limit the market for you but honestly If I knew moving in the whole house could only have 2 people per unit I'd be in love.. 

I went to wyo and my husband Wilson so we'd really like our children to go there as well since they are great schools.

The rule is not to accept partial payment AFTER the pay or quit has been delivered ... so do cash that check .... if you would like me to send you a copy of my pay or quit, I would be happy to do that .... if you show these children ( um, I mean tenants ) that you mean business and are not like their former landlord, you may be able to turn this around ..... but you must always give them the pay or quit notice on the first day that you are allowed ( according to your state laws ) and then file for eviction on the day that you are allowed.      

I intend to hold property for retirement income and eventually pass the property on to children for their income.