Cleaning is expensive because they clean or remove every square inch that could have come in contact with meth smokeSo the risk from tenants is no less than the risk from selling it to a new buyer.  

hard money is short term money... and expensive.. not intended for periods of over a year .. interest and points will kill any cash flow investment. 

However, for the amount you have, the expenses and paperwork, I wouldn't suggest going down this path. 

You live in one unit and let your tenants pay the mortgage and other property expenses.

You build wealth by increasing income and minimizing expenses.

I love the East Ave/Park Ave area and know it well because I lived there for 4 years, but I think it might be a little too expensive at this point. 19th Ward and South Wedge seem more in our target range.

I am assuming insurance, taxes and some local fees would be applicable as part of the expenses. 

I was going to look at the renovations not as an expense, but as value creation, as future equity that I could tap into.

Good afternoon BP friends,I'm looking at setting up an SDIRA for the specific purpose of buying a single property - an undeveloped lot - and I'm trying to determine if it makes any sense to use an LLC and/or have "checkbook" control for this particular SDIRA.My initial thought is that since this SDIRA would be to buy a single piece of undeveloped land and then hold that property as an investment for the next several years, that the additional complexity and expense of an LLC and checkbook control would be unnecessary.

-Have about $30k in savings and usually able to put $2k in savings every month unless I'm paying for some other expense like a vacation or Christmas presents or an emergency-I have no other means of retirement accounts (no 401ks or anything like that)Where we live now, we know it wasn't going to be our "forever" home.