The answer to housing issues in urban areas isn't the suburbs or these low density, semi underground basement unit solutions.

The other thing folks don't realize is only a fraction of people use the super chargers they are along the highways generally but now just coming into the urban areas at least here in PDX.. they are not meant for daily use.. 

@Rhonda Jones Here in Buffalo we have an abundance of sub30k duplexes in urban poor areas.

Getting a diploma seems to be the minimum in society. 

Originally posted by @Sam Leon:Also, the reason ESA and true service animals are often lumped together in rental contexts is because HUD lumped them together as "assistance animals".The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) uses the term "assistance animal" to cover any animal that works, provides assistance, or performs tasks for the benefit of a person with a disability, or provides emotional support that alleviates one or more identified symptoms or effects of a person's disability.

I’m pretty sure you pointed the racial card at me and Said I was delusional and then questioned my experience when I said I live in Allentown which is not an urban area.

Within the MSA, the cheap houses are to be had in four distinct locations: within the urban slums of the actual city, within the urban and suburban slums of the surrounding municipalities of Allegheny County, the limits of Allegheny County, and finally, in the surrounding counties, excluding $$$ pockets with strong school districts and a few purpose-built tax-haven bedroom communities just over the Allegheny County line (Cranberry Township in Butler County, where my brother lives).My target area for those $30K properties is just outside the southeastern limits of the city, which actually used to be very prosperous when the steelmills were running.

I just want financial security for my family while not falling into the trappings of our debt-laden consumer society.

By 10 years, you should have between 15-20 homes, all cash flowing about $120/mo and building about $50k-$60k in equity every year with a $2M portfolio... of course, the bank will own most of it, but you will probably have about $350k-$500k in equity at that point.This is my favorite strategy that I have clients using as it's eliminates and manages a lot of liabilities that comes with owning rental properties.Newer houses most likely mean less maintenance expenseInsurance costs is usually lessLess chance of vandalism, theft, bad tenants, legal problems, etcTownship/Suburban family homes tend in neighborhoods with decent schools tend to retain tenants (average of 5+ years) about 3 X as long as urban or city rentals (average of 1-2 years.)

Don't buy in the roughest neighborhood in the urban core.