My dad owned a small commercial property for nearly 50 years without an LLC, though he looked into it in the 1980's and his lawyer told him to forget it.As to mitigating risks, the main one is insurance, good landlord insurance with umbrella, preferably $2 million or greater.

The pro's and con's are mainly prrsonal decisions regarding how you choose to operate your business.

Well, the major difference is that in a pyramid scheme there is no product, or the product is really just a front for attracting membership, which is the real pay off.

Your episode on the Podcast was actually one of my main inspirations and kick started my journey, to REI.

Most of the homes selling for bargain prices now are in the Adamsville/Bolton Rd areas or way down in 30315 near Dekalb county...the two most outermost corners of the city and of course, those homes are in terrible shape quality wise.Not much of a super statistical analysis, but using the eye test, inventory is way down and the homes available are not really attractive (with or without renovations).

That's a big reason why bigger down payments are more attractive to sellers.

Only buy in areas you feel comfortable with and the type of clientele it attracts.

On the plus side, keeping her as a tenant means doing a lot less work to the main floor that she lives on, than we would otherwise.

But, because the loan is to be kept on the lender's books the rates/terms are not as attractive as Fannie/Freddie.I have investors as well as our own money that make these "non-seasoned" loans to well qualified borrowers.

I mainly keep my construction company for all the benefits, including having maintenance guys on payroll for rental repairs.