We realized that building a home in a place that we were not going to end up in was....less than smart.

At this point my wife and I are with you i think renting it would be the smarted financial move and we are only a week into advertising it for rent but we are hoping that works out.

That's smart. 

You are smart in not wanting to lease, if you loan or purchase the panels they can be appraised as part of the home value if you decide to sell later on. 

@Jennifer RysdamI guess I better check my smart move account before I get into frustrating situation like you did.

@Kyle Shankin so here's a common pitfall with my fellow CPAs, they're book and number smart but not business savvy.

You can do very well in sales without any degree, but it takes a special skill set (not book smarts, but people smarts).I always give advice for people to go to college, because the fact are the facts.

I know that its more about finding a good deal and doing the right research to make sure your investment will return a good cash flow, but for someone who is just getting his feet wet it might be smart to start with some cheaper investments.

Mine is residents load their smart cards via debit card on an app, so vendor does not need to collect coins or any money from onsite.

Now when you have other partners involved, I generally think LLCs are a smart idea not only because it protects against both "external" and "internal" liability.