How old and mentally stable? 

A lot to be said about not needing a huge paycheck the first year or two and prioritize failing, learning, mirroring, growing over money.

In our experience, rooming houses tend to serve very specific demographics, such as:students - we operate a rooming house which serves international students attending the local universities;{a specific} work force:  It is not uncommon to find rooming/boarding houses in close proximity to major employers (factories, hospitals, fish plants; etc);seniors:  A rooming/boarding house which serves seniors;the displaced & transient:  Rooming houses which serve those on the fringes of society (mental illness, transient, addictions).The population you serve will very much dictate the type of operation you will run and each comes with its own management challenges and rewards.My third question is, "Is this rooming house compliant with local zoning and bylaws?"  

Deliberately have a few challenges in your screening process - it will weed out "entitlement mentality" problems4) Allow payment plans, but create system to track when payments due, so they don't keep falling further behind You will need to call them on due dates or they will fall further behind Be prepared to give a strong NO when asked if you will change rent due dates to "make it easier" for tenants to pay rent based upon their SSI or paycheck dates.

Deliberately have a few challenges in your screening process - it will weed out "entitlement mentality" problems4) Allow payment plans, but create system to track when payments due, so they don't keep falling further behind You will need to call them on due dates or they will fall further behind Be prepared to give a strong NO when asked if you will change rent due dates to "make it easier" for tenants to pay rent based upon their SSI or paycheck dates.

Provide value and have a mentality of wanting to help others and people will naturally flock to you and want to help you succeed.

Buy the house but mentally file it as a gift of sorts.  

At the same time, many people weighing in mentioning “don’t play the super leveraged game” contradict countless articles on here that talk about doing your math, leveraging the value of your primary residence through a HELOC (OPM) to purchase another home and tout a “just get in the game somehow” mentality.  

Bred hustler mentality.

I'm finding the herd mentality among some investors and it seems they are playing behind the pack.