I am sure that in ten years I would be happy with the appreciation and rent increases, but I need to be aggressive as I have limited time to build my monthly cash flow for retirement.

My current provider (Vermont Mutual) just increased my premium by 20%.

Are there any laws there on how much of an increase you can make in rent for the next lease period?  

If a tenant wants to rent month-to-month, allow it at an increased rate.

The older homes in my neighborhood pay over 2K, while mine is under $500 because of the increased elevation. 

A large dilemma for my client was should I put 20% down and erase PMI/increase cashflow or put 5% down and do a little bit of value add.

The other quote i have for 18 seer system is 21k, cant understand what increases the cost by 10k from a single stage 14 seer system.

And I have to assume rental rates for other unit will appreciate higher than inflation, plus my Dad's slight increase in his rent to me 'maybe'...I see this as a net gain for me as even taking a ~$3k loss (yes this doesn't include over costs associated with managing a rental) each year for say 10 years, I save $60k of an original downpayment and can push it all into as tax advantaged vanguard fund gaining hopefully more than my loss on a year over year basis.

I'm excited to surround myself with like-minded investors in the area who are also working to pursue financial freedom/ increase income via investing in assets. 

Stocks are shaky and I'm sick of Trump manipulating the market (intentionally or not, probably unintentionally) and the general flip-flopping of politics right now with China/NK, not to mention the other markets (Italy) that are having some troubling signs.