this way, if you have to pick up $500 of the expenses but in one year - you can purchase another 3 unit property and rent the one you were living in for $1100 - then BAM - you know with pretty good certainty that the first property will be cashflowing for a roughly $600 profit (or in the black).then you live in a unit in the second property and hopefully can come close to breaking even...however - this can be a real pain in the buttocks...the bottom line is you want to avoid properties that don't cash flow, unless you're an experienced investor and bank on quick appreciation values (speculative investing).

The inability to get 20k mortgages combined with the opinion of banks that these areas are write-offs anyway led to these areas being shortsale black holes for a long time.Kansas City springs to mind.

FYI: I rant the numbers using a 70% rule and it still came out in the black. 

I know there is no black and white answer here so any feedback from the community would be much appreciated.

Trash everywhere, food stains throughout, toilet bowl almost black, and shower looking like something out of a horror film.

The plumbing could have lead supply lines and galvanized supply lines, and the waste lines could be clay, "Orangeburg" (Black coal-tar impregnated fiber piping), and even cast iron waste can develop cracks especially if the lines go unused for long periods.

@Cory Mccarthyundefined@VAUGHN BLACK@Jonathan Wyse  Gosh 10 months flew by!  

Hey @Gary Black thanks for jumping in and introducing yourself!

Feedback is pretty much black and white.  

Being in Winthrop you should check out the Black Diamond meeting in Waltham for sure.