A city like New Haven is very easy to describe.

I love these two towns, I don't think the margins are asgreat as you describe but all the other points you make are very valid. 

That said, a solid business plan that describes what specific type of asset you're looking for and how it will make money will help tremendously.

You may also be interested in this post describing a pretty creative strategy to get a refinance in under 6months: https://www.biggerpockets.com/... 

Non of these items you described are not for rent, therefore they are not rental income.I agree that I don't think a security deposit should be included unless you keep it to cover damages.I see why they included the utilities that are reimbursed.

I think what I am describing is passsive investing out of state.

Keep in mind capex will be a hugher percentage there then in a 250k home bc toilet replacement cost is similar along with many other capex fixes but is diluted less.Vacancy based on the above described situation go from 5 percent to 20 percent. then there is the water bill. 

Ask them what they look for when deciding to lend money to real estate investors, see if they describe you. 

But having one lease with a family that might themselves rent out a portion of the other house like we did gets very complicated to describe and to manage.

"The best way to describe [redacted] would be a scam artist running a construction Ponzi scheme."