I've heard its really hot and competitive.

The upstairs is being rented out for $1,000 per month. 2) Zillow says it's worth around 201,000.3) If I stayed in the bottom portion and raised the rent of the top half of the building to 1,200 (based on the competition in the area, I would be able to get this easily), I think I would be able to pay the mortgage pretty easily.

I avoid high tension power line routes and toxic waste dumps areas and industrial areas and light manufacturing areas and main highways.

Unfortunately, we've been self-employed in a non-real estate industry for a LONG time now and we couldn't document our income in a way that was sufficient for our lender - so we did a cash deal instead.I thought the equity in that property and in the home we own outright (about $256,000 in total equity) would be enough to reset the conversation for our next deal, but our lender says existing equity will always be overshadowed in our situation by documented income (or lack thereof.)  

I understand your frustration and the market being competitive, but you will always have a chance to buy something that's not a good deal (daily).

I agreed to accept the property tenant occupied because honestly it helped me deflect competition and I got a great price.

I was paying a very competitive 75% split and covering E&O, websites, CRM, marketing and doing a ton of training. 

The people who sustained asbestos related injuries were people who worked in industrial settings in the trades, boilermakers and such. 

Economies of scale and lesser buyer competition come together to make a $1M apartment building make much more sense than a $70k SF home. 

On Booking.com, its our cabin, and two other local hotels for our immediate area, so there's hardly any competition.