She had originally requested that the landlord install that lock on her bedroom door (there wasn't one before) precisely bc of the fragility of that property entrance, and now he broke the bedroom door down. 

At this point, the savings will provide enough cash flow - like an annuity.Some nice points in your response.I used the $200/mo savings as an example precisely because that's today's reality.

@Edison ReisWhile much of the information here on BP is universal, financing and taxation are two areas where things are done a little differently north of the 49th.BTW:  The Smith Manoeuvre is a wonderful tool ... but you need to be precise and attentive to setting it up and operating it, lest you step outside the grey area an the CRA invalidates your plans.

Thanks @Charmaine M. yes having an 'idea' and knowing precisely makes a HUGE difference!

The reason we do this as a separate contract with the tenant is precisely so it is separate from their security deposit.  

You need to speak to someone local who knows the precise location of the properties for a better evaluation of the locations.

I have never looked at one because I am not in your fortune situation but i have seen them out there and the added benefit is that  you can deploy more precise amounts.Course you also lose one of the best parts of those types of deals because you will probably have to put all the eggs into one basket.Course, there are problems with the approach of buying into cash flow properties too which is you have to find the right operator and if you never invested before out of state you can easily get hurt real bad putting that much money to work right away esp with larger multis being sold at lower and lower cap rates.  

Mine says that I'm going to take common sense safety precautions - locking doors and windows at night, but that if a thief comes in the dark of night (or while nobody is on site) and steals something it is not my fault.That being said, I've got a whole darn warehouse where fixtures get stored until the day they get installed... for precisely this reason.

It is worst than risky trying to invest in a broad range of markets without understanding precisely what is going on in those markets.

Ahhh precisely what I was going to bring up (Portugal)!