Hi Celina Lane , thanks for giving me an extra smile this morning (your Barbie doll development experience made me smile).

I am thinking about perhaps holding three months rent in escrow and asking her to stay a couple extra months ahead of rent.

We are open to occupying one unit of a duplex (to secure a lower interest rate) for example, and have a good friend who would rent a room in our residence - with an extra apartment (or possibly 2 if there is a basement) creating multiple revenue streams to quickly repay a relatively small mortgage.

You can try to collect extra rent from them after the lease ends and they refuse to leave. 

Hello, I am interested in buying a small single family house in a decent neighborhood (average median house price around 450k), but the seller would want to sell the land (50x100) next to it together for an extra 100k to make a deal. hypothetically I can negotiate it a lower price for the land (any suggestion on how to determine the value for the land), what kind of investment can I make to turn the land into something profitable rather than just being wasted?

Those figures are the reason I’m interested in the property, especially since it’s a long term play.I know there are many investors who caution against student rentals; however, I’m younger (29) and don’t have an issue with the extra time/headaches required to manage these types of rentals.

set up your rentals on a weekly schedule.52 weeks in a year your picking up an extra month.. now lower your tenants rent by 10 bucks or 190 a week.and your tenant is thinking hey is am saving money when in fact your making money.rentals in AU are collected weekly and advertised weekly.  

The contractor currently is refusing to continue work and wants to be paid ~$13000 for extra foundation work based on a subsurface condition clause.

On an individual scale, when encountering an asymmetry you make the choice to absorb or outsource that risk.

Spend the extra coin and get higher class neighborhoods, skip the rough areas.