I thought if you had a building close enough to a campus and rent cheap enough for college students to afford then there was a chance to have a consistent flow of revenue.

He thought he just had to have the county approve it at the end of construction...

In light of your circumstances, take into account the following real estate investing strategies:Fix and Flip, Buy and Hold, and BRRRR (Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat)Always keep in mind that careful preparation, thorough research, and modifying your approach to suit your risk tolerance and financial objectives are the keys to successful real estate investment.

Futher, if you come prepared with the numbers on your end as well as a solid idea of your exit strategy it will streamline the process. 

I thought I did all the math (Federal capital gains, GA taxes) but panicked when I realized I'd likely have to pay CA capital gains on top of these?

Think about your SO preparing food for a SuperBowl party.

@Mike Arias  When you convert your property from your personal residence to a rental property, your basis is what you paid for the property originally plus renovations you do in preparing it for rental and minus the land value.

Afterward, return on equity makes more sense.Greg, I appreciate your response thank you.From the ROE equation I get 11% to get a mortgage and 8% ROE to continue without a mortgage.Here are some further thoughts below, I'd appreciate your thoughts or any holes you can poke in the logic:1.

Many thoughts!

Thank you all for the well thought out responses.