Normal activities on the ground floor will interfere with anyone trying to sleep in that room.If there is any risk at all of water getting in there you must take steps to mitigate the risk or else the value of that space is greatly reduced.

Not knowing if there are active leases or the condition, 100k was the most I would risk not knowing anything (this was a week ago) and the financing on 280k would put us at 70k out of pocket and the payments we could manage on our own income on top of our normal mortgage.

@Joel Owens @Marc Dufour Mark for years at least until 1990 10% was the going rate for land deals. so 5% in my mind is a deal.. land takes much longer to sell normally..

That being said, normally modification of a common element by an individual owner is not allowed.Hopefully, you can get it worked out.

In addition to that if you reach normal retirement age you will be able to rollover your employer 401k even if you are still employed there.Hope this helps!

SFH I think there will be some upside because they offer amenities that apartments can not and not so many of them are being constructed (60% of building permits were apartment units-normally it's 25%).

JohnSince this is your first apartment complex you are purchasing get an idea what would be normal operating cost for a similar 22 unit apartment complex.

Normally in my area a property like this would need $5,000+ unit in renovations at a purchase cost of roughly $30,000 per door.

I'm no lawyer, so I would double check with one, but you should be able to offer a one-time discount on rent in the first month and still have the rent be $1,000 per month and thus be able to collect the maximum security deposit allowed by the state based on the normal monthly rate.At least in Michigan I've seen many first month free specials, and I doubt they are going without a security deposit.Word of caution though, these laws vary from state to state so double check with a local real estate lawyer.

Some people expect that stuff because they're in people's houses that have all the normal things suburban houses have.