I was 25 and my wife was 23 when we had our first baby.We fell for the “American Dream” and bought a single family home.Oops.Terrible mistake.Yes we have equity in the home but we could have equity AND cash flow.We should have bought a multi and then used our cash flow to buy ANOTHER multi.From there generate enough cash flow to pay for the LUXURY of a single family.Supplemental income is a very beautiful thing.Is it pretty and attractive in the beginning years of marriage and children to live in a multi?

I will cover utilities up to a budgeted amount of ~$1500-$2000 a month as well as water and wifi.

See if your lease includes a clause that requires the tenant to pay for an increase in the cost of your insurance, etc if something they do within the unit causes you to incur higher insurance, utilities, etc. 

Hello all, I have a client that utilizes a self-directed IRA to hold his rental properties in.

The 7.5% service fee, according to their website is for "The expenses we take on after closing (taxes, maintenance, utilities, etc.)" and "Any risks associated with reselling the house — like an offer falling through"Dumb, I know.

I will definitely utilize this when shopping around for a loan!

Ashwin - From what I can see from your analysis I would make sure you have insurance as well as (common) utilities in your expense items.

Completely legal and she'll likely disappear.Another option is to utilize various delay tactics, though I don't personally like this option.

Some of your expenses may be limited.In regards to expenses, you may be able to pro-rate utilities, mortgage interest, depreciation expense, real estate taxes, etc to name a few deductions.

An investment makes you money, which means you get more money coming in than going out.The trouble is, you have to count not only the hard cost to buy (price, rehab, etc... but also the soft costs to operate (insurance, utilities, etc...).