If I had any hope of providing my parents with a remotely stable retirement, I had to generate some wealth.2) Equally as important, I wanted to prove to myself that I could.

And a separate lot will generate more value.

Quote from @Kate Schaefer: I screen my applicants through a system that gives a custom score, but we ignore it and generate our own score based on credit history, income: debt ratio, Landlord references, etc.

This would generate about $2,000 monthly positive cash flow (I realize this resets my terms and back at a 30 year mortgage).I checked with some other lenders for my rentals and they can only offer me a 5 year fixed term that can be renewed or a 30 year term at 4.95%.What are your thoughts? 

In today’s COVID environment I’m really looking to minimize risk and I would much rather have an empty house not generating income than an occupied house costing me money to get it back.  

Another consideration is a cash-out refinance on the property to tap into some of that equity AND generate rental income. 

I own a rental property outright that is currently generating rental income.  

This, loosely, is your Return on Investment or ROI.One way to think about it is that it would take 20 years of returns at $50,000 to recoup your $1 million initial investment.If the property generated $150,000with the same $50,000 in expenses, the cap rate would be $100,000 divided by $1 mil, which would equal 10%.

My initial thought is to generate an excel doc to capture, organize, and automate this process, but hoping there are more sophisticated options available. 

@Codey Fabian - maybe you can install a generator for the power issue?