The paid off student rental plus the 2nd student rental helps pays off the mortage for 2nd student rentals and living expenses for me and my wife. the duplex was  cash flowing approx  $300 month with the old tenants We manage everything ourselves with some help from our family. 

Sometimes they forget to tell you that many tenants in Detroit don't pay (depending on the property manager skill and the type of tenant) - but taxes are very high in the city and so is insurance. 

Your first year will be a learning experience, you will want to be close to the action, as you may not have the capital to pay someone to handle everything.

I had a nice conversation with them and approved their booking for Aug 2025.So, it pays to keep an eye out for a repeat booking that looks fake as they could just not be seeing you responses. 

Of course there's a premium you pay but the convenience can be unmatched when you have the right partner. 

There are people who have an entire business helping you set up and design a STR relatively quickly (3-7 days) depending on size of home and complexity but you are going to be paying a bit of a premium but you do save on the headache.

So I was paying under the market rent to live in the property, then moved out and rented my unit and it’s cash flow positive.

However, with the rates and conditions of any triplexes and fourplexes we could find (we did find one, but it's in the Pendleton Heights suburb of KCMO, so we were worried about it being too dangerous of an area), we were wondering if it's worth it to buy a duplex and rent out the other half to help pay the mortgage, or if it's more worthwhile to rent an apartment and try to save up to buy a residential or commercial MFH later?

We have an existing mortgage (backed by these 2 lots and 2 others) and given the increase in appraised value there is no need to pay anything back to the lender when selling the lot.

There's nothing wrong with paying for someone to do their job but take the opportunity to learn from them. 9/10 times they don't mind teaching you.