I only do commercial real estate these days.If people think agents do not look at commissions then I have an expensive ice igloo time share to sell you in Hawaii..........: )Brokers and agents on the residential side like to espouse ETHICS and that they are a REALTOR.

I currently run a business called Twistee Treat (ice cream shop) and have 3 locations here in Houston.

Snow removal and de icing, require or offer tenant insurance, document applicant refusals or evictions and reasons, require and monitor fire and carbon monoxide alarms, no trespassing signs, tenants only, no subletting, etc etc.  

If your property appreciates in value that's just icing on the cake!

We took our spreadsheet that showed our results and went to show a family friend with hopes that he would give us some money to invest with.We struck it big and he offered us a million dollars to work with, and we were off to the races.

and as you know in IN its a mortgage state so foreclosures take some time to flush through the system .. not like GA were they can start and be done in 90 days.What I was struck with was houses that were vacant for more than a year and they looked the same as the day the folks left.. nothing missing no vandalism no theft of mechanicals etc. as we know in the big cities ALL big cities in the D and C class and much into B class a vacant home left for a year will generally be stripped... and many times trashed by vandals and vagrants.

I've considered investing in Yakima myself, and it is definitely  an area where appreciation should not be anything more than icing on the cake; your cash flow numbers need to be able to stand by themselves. 

Anything above that is just icing on the cake if it happens.What the person wanting to live in one unit and rent out the other two has to answer is:1.

Appreciation is the icing on the cake and luckily rent doesn't fluctuate like housing values.

I was born and raised in Vermont, Brandon area :)Waterbury is a great town for both Pizza and Ice Cream!!