The other side of the coin is that if you have found ideal tenants you should provide excellent customer service as a way of keeping them in place and just doing good business. 

We only have a house or two, we say.And just because we got away with not having a professional layout when we got the mortgage for our first rental or even second rental, we think it's okay just to present a mortgage company, bank or hard money lender, just some figures written down on a piece of paper or on an Excel Spread Sheet.

@John CasmonThat is an excellent plan!

@Chris Adams Excellent point.

Excellent point @Steve Babiak , if the bankruptcy is dismissed they can refile the same day or soon thereafter and add creditors.

Her only redeeming quality, other than the steady rent check, was that she was an excellent housekeeper.

I'd wager your investment in the basement will be as valuable as buying another place.Plus your suggestion about ignoring the increase is most likely illegal.

EXCELLENT advice from Dion's previous post.

That's excellent work on your part.You should have a pretty good idea of how much work is actully requires to operate these properties.

I guess I've been lucky, the tenant/applicants I've seen so far have been excellent, so I wouldn't assume that renters are necessarily all or most of that 20% at the bottom of the credit pile.