I find inadequate insulation, mold on vapor barrier, no vapor barrier at all, studs not nailed together in corners, seeping at shower fixture connections, fixture not properly secured to framing, etc. etc.

Each payment, the principle decreases until the principle eventually hits $0 and the loan is done being paid.When you create a loan, you choose a period over which the loan will be repaid (10 years, 15 years, 30 years, etc) and then you can use a complex formula to determine how much each monthly payment will be, and how much of that payment goes to principle and how much goes to interest.

Lower priced restaurants like McDonalds, KFC, etc. get replaced with more upscale Sushi, French and higher priced Artisanal Gourmet restaurants.It also causes Crime to decrease, which also adds increasing demand to live in the neighborhood.This is a great boon to Owners of the Housing stock as the changing landscape increases the value of their rentals and causes sky high appreciation.

Hi LlewI'm new to this and obviously will defer to your experience, but I have been running numbers up and down to practice evaluating properties, and the one thing I have seen is that even if the expenses decrease (because of a lack of mortgage), the numerator increases (i.e. the amount you have invested in the property) so the numbers don't vary hugely as you go from 50% to 100% with a 5% mortgage.For example a property that rents for $2,000 monthly with a purchase value of $200,000, using the 50% rule, will cash flow at just over 5.1% with 50% down and will cash flow at 5.9% with 100% down.

There would be no loan cost or increase in loan size, but with the higher rate your monthly savings would decrease or go away completely.

The $10,000/mo income relates to additional vacancy of 10 doors to get to break even (86% occupied) or a rent decrease of $104/mo across the board.

If the inspector sees something else that looks out of place (like inadequately spaced stair pickets) they can require you to fix that.

The housing market has already reacted and slowed a little - pricing has decreased only ever so slightly and days on market has increased barely. 

Michael,A Hotel has much more unstable income through REVPAR versus a multifamily building.The smaller properties will be valued under 5 units more with the comparable sales approach versus the multifamily properties using the income approach.With increasing rents each year,decreasing costs,and cap rate compression you can get plenty of appreciation.You have to remember that appreciation is trying to keep up with inflation each year.More options and finance structures in commercial loans versus residential.Yes you can own multiple small little buildings in different states to diversify but that can be risky and a headache as well.Then you have to find different management companies and expect them all to do a good job without issues versus one with a bigger complex.

The next step is to consider how expenses can be decreased.