If you are paying the same or close to it in rent now then really all you would be doing is trading a rental property for one you live in that has growth potential.As a pure investment no it's not the best but if you are paying rent now anyways close to that at least you would be growing equity with pay down and have some tax benefits.Having 50k for an inheritance is huge and you might want to hold onto that for growing your business.

As an investor it allows you to save up money quicker to buy pure rentals that have higher downpayment amounts of 20%. 

We pure rentals in addition to personals future rentals.

We live a transient lifestyle being military so a lot of our property is personal with also pure rentals through in. 

It was a pure oversight to not include the items they wanted in the contract and I'll be sure not to make that mistake again.Jerry, that's a great resource and idea to have to remove items from properties.

Experience,pure and simple.Always have a GC with you for your first dozen times you look at properties and write down everything they say about how much money per square foot it would cost to repair or replace the bones(roof,plumbing,electrical,foundation)and upgrade redecorating costs.After a while it will come naturally to you and you won't need a GC by your side every minute during evaluations.

It may be faulty logic from a pure dollars and cents and ROI standpoint, but as I only have this property and 1 other 1 bedroom condo, I have the time and ability to do the repaints (2 colors), etc etc.  

I'm curious, on a pure financial basis, what is a realistic rate of pyramiding for homes in this range?

Which many times results in a flood of tenants moving in/iout at the same time,  pure stress.  

The reason I don't is purely selfish: since my husband is an agent, we can use the referral system to officially refer a potential buyer/seller (if they want) directly to the agent who we use for our deals.