We're hoping they'll get jobs, buy their own food and pay the utilities (good luck with that!).

Tom,I went against the grain in what is preached of buying your way up from a duplex and rolling into larger deals.

without the person specifying if it was a preapproval, or if they own the home with keys in-hand, with a grain of salt.

Hope that gives you some food for thought. 

Just food for thought. 

It might be useful to combine this with a food serving arrangement where people could order what they want to eat before they get home and it could be prepared for them at low cost. 

And up until this month my experience had always been satisfactory plus.Here is my daughters recap of our experienceOn July 1st got to house had to clean out refrigerator full of food that was expired as far back as July 2021 it took 4 trash bags to clean out the fridge and half the freezer There was no room for us in any cabinets so I put our dry goods on the kitchen counter topI took the kids outside to the back yard and that’s when I noticed an ant infestation on the right side of the house I also attempted to do laundry and as I opened the washer there was a pungent smell of mildew July 2nd went to use the toaster oven to find it unsanitary And completely unusable July 3rd I bought some ant spray and Affrim washing machine cleaner On the night of July 5th I found about 20-30 ants crawling all around the kitchen counter tops and on our food I moved all dry goods into bags having to throw away some of it I then went to kill the remaining ants on the kitchen counter top and when I moved a kitchen appliance I noticed there were ant traps already set July 6th I contacted Airbnb about all the issues of cleanliness and the ants I said I wanted my money back and there response was that my complaint wasn’t within the 72 hour window The host sent an exterminator and a cleaning crew to “deep clean” the house and professionally clean the washing machine July 7th the host set up for the exterminator to come and told me I don’t need to be there and that he will get a neighbor or friend to come wait but apparently he didn’t set that up and so when they came no one was there so they left. 

They both sell cooked food for people, how much is similar?

Hi Jason,You could always go into the service and pick up a 0 down VA loan when you get out.While you are in just live off the govt (food residence clothes, etc) 100% and save 100% of your money.Then when you are out you have a pocket full of money and a zero down opportunity.Maybe you can be something easy like a mess officer and pick up a skill as a restaurant manager along the way, then then you get out you have  marketable skill as well as a degree.https://www.youtube.com/watch?

They left half their belongings behind, food and even alcohol.