Evidence is that people buy houses no mater what the interest rate and curiously the rate of buying (# of homes sold per capita) remains a fairly steady no mater the rate except during periods of rapid transition.  1% could make a big difference on determining to purchase a rental or not, IMO.I have been looking at turnkey class A properties in a particular zip code I want to stay in, and the margins are thin.

slightly off topic . in Hawaii, while on vacation we heard some loud yelling and and what sounded like a lot of domestic violence happening - I went outside and was trying to determine the location of it and soon another guy joined me who had also heard it - we discovered the room it was coming from and both approached to ask if everything was ok - a big muscle bound guy answered the door sweating and breathing heavy - he said everything was ok and that him and his girl were just having a disagreement -when asked if she was OK - he said yes - then the guy that was with me asked she could please come  outside and confirm to us that she was OK - I was a little taken back by his boldness , but was glad he asked - so she came to the door and confirmed she was OK and didn't need any assistance.

There are other FHA requirements concerning which you should contact your local lender, but determining whether or not a triplex or fourplex meets the self-sufficiency rule is a good place to start as this rule will immediately eliminate many properties from your search, especially in expensive markets like ours.

What about cable, internet and Wi-Fi access?

After I did a little research, I was able to determine the "landlord" was a friend or relative.

I am told that the first attorney they went to wasn't able to help them and that he/she referred them to another attorney who specialized in this type of deal, but he wanted to much money so they decided to just pull a generic contract off the internet (I do not yet have the contract in hand or I would post it).Some big concerns I see with this.1.  

There are other FHA requirements concerning which you should contact your local lender, but determining whether or not a triplex or fourplex meets the self-sufficiency rule is a good place to start as this rule will immediately eliminate many properties from your search, especially in expensive markets like ours.

If so, I belong to a (free) private investor group that communicates over the Internet.

There are qualifying questions you must ask your potential sellers as well as qualifying activities that must be done to determine if you even have a good deal.

I would start with the three year rental history to determine if increases took place or decreases.