So, your portfolio will actually be sucking cash out of your life, if you buy a traditional long-term rental using a HELOC as your down payment, for many years. 

Unless you do them all at one time, you have origination and closing costs on each house…so perhaps you pay up front to split the land.Obviously, I am not a developer and someone who is may chime in.  

The decision would be based on the income situation, so I'm not worried about violating fair housing laws.Lesson learned...

The student gets a check and calls it quits.

So, for those folks I need to look at their tax returns because that will show me income and expenses for a whole year. 

The good news is that the financial metrics you've read about are universal and not at all country specific.The bad news is that Germany may just not be a good cash-flow market, compared to the U.S.But then, few markets are.That's why you find so many Germans and Australians and Spaniards and others trying so hard to find great deals in the U.S.And, even in the States, there are plenty of sub-markets where properties routinely fail the so-called "1% rule."

So, does it really matter where a worker is located? 

Good contractors don't walk off jobs and they can justify their bid with a written estimate showing cost of materials and labor so you can compare it with any other bid.

You wanted feedback so you could decide on your course of action before the summer.Any updates as to your decision?

Great tools that get updated regularly.I am on the lending side of things and would be happy to hop on a call with you anytime to discuss financial strategies and help answer any questions you may have about nearly any loan product available to help you on your journey, even if they are not products my capital partners offer.