Or, they don't care if they break even because it's a vacation spot for them and they're just barely trying.

One of the three is barely at cash flow break-even this year due to lost rents and needed repairs after the last tenant broke the lease and vacated. 

@Mark B. are you saying there’s hope?!

Every day with barely any effort. 

The point is was trying to make is that there was no car there, no tracks in the snow from a vehicle yet they somehow were able to afford barely enough to keep the 5 of them (2 young kids) warm.My realtor, attorney (and everyone I tell the story to) just shake their heads... 

The maximum rent I can get for my 2-bedroom condo is around $3,000, which is barely enough to cover my mortgage, taxes, insurance, and HOA fee.

When running the cash flow on a deal, I suggest using the DSCR ratio at a bare minimum, but realistically you want to account for cap ex, repairs, vacancy, etc. 

Rent was even more -- $770/mo, and my "space" was a tiny dirt lot that my 5th wheel barely fit in.

Part of me says "hey, thats extra income, screw it, let's sign this and go on to the next adventure", but the other part of me feels like there could be something much less stupid than cancelling a huge ag exemption and taking out 64,000 just to have a strip of units that barely even make the payment for the truck I drive.  

The fact that prior to your post above I could barely get an email with more than three words shows me that you have lost the human factor of service.