They can work great depending on your goals, but there are pros and cons like any real estate investment.

Depending on how long you are staying, there are a few ways you can pinch some extra pennies from the extra space in your home.

Echoing what others have mentioned, we'll need to take a look at your credit scores/history, and then also talk about possible co-signers if you want the best rate.As for down payment, that really depends on what kind of property, purchase price, types of rents, etc. 

On multifamily I look for $250 per door, but that depends on other factors of the deal in which I can improve on my NOI.  

Depending on the branch of service, the name could be a little different but it should all have similar functions.

Depending on market, many investors calculate about 8% vacancy (1 month), depending on age 5-7% for CapEx, etc.

I have seen legitimately better and worse by a wide margin as local area rents / utilities / taxes / building services each play a big role.Also, from a landlords perspective, it depends on what gets passed on to the tenants (e.g.

Can’t stop paying personal loan to Dad since he depends on the $1k per month.

Many of them are not the actual numbers and are prepared to help the owner.I would take a look at what that subject town shows about the zoning and not just depend on what the owner says. 

Not to say that it can't/won't happen, rather it's nearly impossible to put a timeline on it.Plus even if there's a decline some areas are seeing huge growth, so something like 30% drop on equity might only be a few years of less of equity depending on the deal.Historically we're due for a correction, but it's unlikely to be what we saw last time around..