.- I have already added an item to the “tenant contract” that uses their deposit to cover 2 weeks of the room being empty should this occur.There has to be a better way to do this that decreases my risk.

You can negotiate a certain rate that will decrease as you acquire more units and give it to them to manage.

"Paying down your mortgage" means that your rate of return decreases over time (effective returns of having a place to live, divided by the capital tied up) .

If you are considering a property targeted towards families and the area is aging, you will likely find demand decreasing.

Apparently they also install a drip water system so you basically have very little maintenance/gardening expenses on top of the water savings.I guess as a landlord it would be a no brainer to increase cash flow, with zero expenditure.However if you were to sell the property at a later time, do you think it would decrease it's appeal to buyers?

However, each month the tenant make the $1K p/mo rental payment $600 goes toward principle or $7,200 in equity a year (which increases every year as the interest portion decreases each and every year).

Obviously your return on equity is decreased, it may be offset by reinvesting the cash.

Andrew,On the contrary to the previous posts, once interest rates rise (and they will sooner than later), the overly compressed cap rates on multi-family will rise decreasing the value of your property.

I think there is good opportunity in the South Bay for Estate type sales where a trustee is looking to unload a decreased parents SFR quickly so that the estate can be settled.

You could also call around to find out what the going cap rate is in your area and use that to make an offer (cap rate excludes mortgage payment).It seems like a lot of the duplexes are listed at higher prices because they are trying to attract owner-occupancy, targeted towards people that aren't looking to make money but to decrease the cost of ownership