It depends what you want to do.

As with most questions, it depends.

I guess a lot depends on the value of the lot the house is on relative to the total price of the house.  

Can be state dependent, but generally if he owns the property in his individual name, yes....unless it his homestead property in certain states.

It will all depend on what state you are in. 

I've heard some great things about Cozy but I've never used it.As for how much you should set aside in annual costs for tenant screening & advertising, it really depends...

Get an actual interest rate from a bank - for investing, it'll probably be around 5.5% (depends on your credit).Don't purchase based solely on the 50% rule (I've said it several times, but once more won't hurt).

Grant you must hold for a minimum of 6 months or a year depending on the Lender's criteria.

NOTE: (Actually, the agent oftentimes has to split that 3% commission with the broker, depending on the agreement, so the agent gets even less.

Then depending on the year you can use that year's dominate interest rate.