Many low cost homes vs fewer high cost homes

[Mitch Provost]

Is it better to have many low cost single family home rentals or fewer high cost single family home rentals (assuming you invest the same amount) and why?

[Andrew Johnson]

@Mitch Provost This will be a vague answer to the vague question :-) I'd say in general I'd like the higher cost homes. They're nicer, you get to screen more tenants, etc. And the proportional costs to repairs (as a percentage of rent) are lower. The dishwasher repair costs the same hypothetical $99 whether your rent is $500/month or $1500/month. And if you're one of those people that's looking to scale, you can get more gross rents with the 10 loan maximum with higher cost homes. That said, in some markets high cost SFR rentals are a challenge because the person that can rent for "X" can easily save to afford to buy for "Y". All of this rambling aside, I tend to favor mid-level apartments. I don't want to be the cheapest option in town (for rent) because then I would get the bottom-of-the-barrel for tenants. By buying nicer units (and keeping them nice) I might have a little more headache to get them re-rented but the quality of tenants is a little better and the units are (generally) returned in great condition.