UV rays tend to break these down and the "split", no matter how minor, is usually the source for water stains in kitchen and bath ceilings.  

Long Beach tends to have solid multifamily property.

We have never had a "mentor" heck in the beginning anyone we mentioned it to thought we were nuts.

Quite often they still want to know the number but it avoids that really uncomfortable silence they tend to give when you put in your low offer.

This tends to be good for flippers, because you don't want to hold the house a day longer than necessary.Bankrate has loans in Brookline at: 4.5-5.0% for 30 year fixed2.875-3.0% for 5/1 ARM2.815% (only one available) for 3/1 ARMNo points on any of those loans.

It's nice to have a solid tenant, and unless I'm hit with a higher bit of taxes or insurance, I tend to leave them alone chugging along happily making the mortgage, insurance, taxes, property manager, and a few bucks a month in my pocket.

It's clear one can't rely on initial cash flow alone and must project future cash flows; as others point out costs could grow faster than rents (e.g. rust belt towns with declining population).Where I'd be interested to hear your thinking is on reserves and the liquidity of the properties you buy.e.g. with hindsight you can always point to which of these two properties provided a greater total return over ownership:a) zero/low cash flow property (on day one) that pays down mortgage, but appreciates and cash flow builds as rents outpace costs (i.e. your Brooklyn example)b)  higher cash flow property (from day one), but lower appreciation and lower growth of cash flow as rents and costs grow with inflation only (e.g. a stable Midwest city perhaps)I would tend to agree that if you can get it "right" and can predict rent growth etc then property a) likely offers potentially higher returns.The difficulty I have is thinking about the risk embedded in making these predictions upfront coupled with the inherent illiquidity of property.

The margins for flips tends to be lower, but returns on rentals is very strong.

When I've had other business losses in the past, such as my wife's Real Estate business as a Realtor, I typically answer N/A since there are no real assets involved.I appreciate any insight in what other more seasoned professionals tend to go with on that answer.

Compared to hotter parts of DC the units she features are very affordable, but they tend to be condos, which the OP wanted to avoid.