After the GE washer died, I called them and they instructed me to have a GE-certified maintenance guy to look at it ($90 out of our pocket - not covered by the plan), we were told the washer is old and the part that failed is not replaceable since they ain't making them any longer.

I think I should protect myself somehow but I am not sure what the best way is especially since I don't have my own house yet but do have good amount of savings for my age. thanks

Not only if it had beautiful architecture I could admire, but the age of the building, its historical significance if any, the effort to construct it, etc.I am still in the process of absorbing what I can of RE investing knowledge everyday, but I know that I will enjoy seeing my hard work payoff in something tangible and real.

The question for the ages is - how long?

In my opinion you would be opening up a can of worms and costing yourself more by trying to do furnished apts for college age kids who do not have Mom to pick up after them.

Due to my age, I haven't had an opportunity to establish any tangible amount of credit, limiting my financing choices.

I assume if it weren't near good schools, you'd be getting less than $1400 in rent and the property would be a worse deal.As for the age of the property, 10 years is a tricky spot.

With that in this day in the technology age if someone wants to put in time to find you, they can.

For instance if the age of the complex in this case is 5 years old and most of the buyers bought for 230k then most of the owners are way underwater...when your neighbors hear that units are selling for close to 100k less than what they recently bought for it will lead to a rash of short sales and strategic defaults...However if the owners have been on title longer and hove more equity you could be in good shape...but if you want to see how bad some condo projects can snowball do a search on condos in florida...its nuts down there...they can go from 150k to 25k fast!

If you are just matching a hole or a spot and the new stuff is "too" white ...........due to age, weather, etc....i like to spit a little tobacoo juice in the mud to make it match up.