If you started 5 months ago... actually this is a good point.ANYONE and everyone that have been following me for a while listen to this.If you had started 5 months ago with what I have been preaching you would very likely be on page one of Google right now (IF you did it correctly).So you can either listen to the nay sayers or you can do as I say and take control of SEO and dominate your friggin market!

Not only would you have more control, but one vacancy isn't 100% of your income gone.6.

I'm not a fan of condos in general because of (in non-vacation type areas) appreciation is lower and you lose a lot of control to an HOA.

Personally I prefer to supply it because then I control how it gets installed, if they come with their own, they will need to store them mine stay in place.Regarding @Jason Hirko meat situation, landlord is not responsible for the tenants personal property ie. meat, that's what renters insurance is for.

The bread-and-butter 2-6 unit multifamilies are still NOT appealing to the people you're envisioning in the areas you mentioned.The Elm to Maple corridor tends to brighten up a bit as you move north from Bridge Street--say, from Prospect Street north.If you live in the building you have a degree of control over who you're renting to, so that can insulate you from some problems you might encounter as an absentee landlord.  

Google is the 800 lbs gorilla that controls your websites lead gen destiny.  

There are automatic timers/controllers that have the fan run every 15 minutes.

This should be required reading for all high school students, imo.Total Money Makeover (Dave Ramsey) - how to get your finances under control, if they aren't alreadyAll Your Worth & Two-Income Trap (Elizabeth Warren) - the intersections of personal finance and government policy - good things to understand if you're a tax-paying US citizen.Your Money or Your Life (Vicki Roberts, Joseph R.

@Carlos Cevallos  In the upstate in SC, where I am focused, tenants pay electricity directly and water, sewer, trash, and pest control can be billed back to tenants either through a RUBS system or a flat-fee bill, which a lot of landlords are moving to because it's easy for the tenants to understand and you don't have to wait for the RUBS service to calculate the payments or pay their fees.We found that billing through RUBS, especially for water, has the positive effect not only of raising your NOI, but also it encourages tenants to be more economical with water in the first place, now that they have to pay for it.

This is going to be the easiest way for him to be out from under the treachers of landlording, and this would be the easiest way for you to essentially assume his loan, and have control of the house.