Hi folks, please let me know of any problems you foresee with this idea:
1. Buy house, 2 or 3 br plus small (basement?) unit, in Canadian college town with low house prices. Price, about $50-60K.
2. Rent out main unit to students, Sept-May, about $700/mo plus utilities.
3. Live in basement unit Sept-May, move upstairs for the summer. Do minor repairs and renos each summer.
4. Live highly frugal life from rent and some savings.
5. Avoid getting student tenants who trash the place by being downstairs all the time to observe and coerce.
We're obviously talking a highly frugal life here, as 8(700)-1000 taxes = $4600/yr for food and basement unit utilities.
So, what's wrong with this? The danger of sudden major repair costs suggests itself, and I'm not sure what kind of insurance would make sense on a property that's worth so little to start with (i.e., if insurer insists on insuring for replacement value, that would be about four times the actual purchase cost).