I understand that satisfying a personal living requirement and an investment requirement at the same time is tough......having tried to do this 3 times before with total failure, this time I'm choosing to live in an investment and buy a "home" later on. 

Failure is not an event.

Failure is not an event.

Failure is not an event.

I plan on sharing my successes and failures in this business to help educate others.

., case law) that in practice the landlord must pay for water and sewer - s/he can try to pass the cost on to the tenant, but it is toothless because the landlord cannot allow the property to be without water and so must ensure it is never turned off (and if s/he allowed that to happen, then the tenant may not owe rent for that period and could even be entitled to damages if it was found to be part of a self-help eviction).Some RI general laws you may want to review are listed below, but like I said, you're really asking a legal question so unless you find an attorney willing to weigh in here for free (which would be awesome), you'll either have to ask one directly yourself (on your own dime), research the laws yourself, or be content with non-attorney opinions like mine.Anyway, here are some relevant laws and you'll also want to check out the RI Landlord Tenant Handbook which is basically a plain-language explanation of the most commonly encountered LL-tenant laws:RIGL § 34-18-22 Landlord to maintain premisesRIGL § 34-18-22.2 Landlord's duty regarding compliance with zoning and minimum housing lawsRIGL § 34-18-31 Wrongful failure to supply heat, water, hot water, or essential servicesRIGL § 45-24.3-7 Minimum standards for basic equipment and facilities

I worked hard, failure simply was NEVER an option.

The way I buy houses determines my success or failure on a real estate investment.

I wanted to be proactive and not let my fear of failure stop me from moving forward in this process, but I am VERY much learning as I go along.

Depending on state law where property #2 is located, Since you have an additional consideration in this deal as a swap, your deed of trust might include a deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure as a cure for default in payment (not to failure of keeping insurance or taxes as they should be advanced).