i never said anything about rural. the money is in some beat up neighborhood, not far from a major bus stop or downtown, central to the mission, food stamp place, at least one day labor workplace, etc. What you want is a big old 3 story house, wood, in bad shape, for 30-40k, fix it up with 10k, your own labor, and the labor of people already renting rooms there. You will be putting in cheapo walls, dividing the rooms in half, and charging the same, but adding Internet, computers, little fridges, microwaves, TV;s, with adquate security and the right wording of the rental contract. There's also a need little "add on" that I thought of, which tacks on about 20k a year to your profits. cash. But that part will remain my little secret. There's plenty of old houses that can rent out 20 such rooms, for $100 a week. do the math. The place will then need twice as many bathrooms, twice as many washers and dryers. the tenants, under your supervision, can work off their rent fee by painting, doing cleanup, pulling up old tiles or carpet, hanging drywall, etc. So the conversion doesnt take much out of your pocket. Dont buy such a place taht aint already full of tenants. get an extra week deposit, and a signature on a 'sober-living' contract. then when you kick them out for partying, being drunk etc, they don't get back their deposit. very high bills for utilities, liability and fire insurance. But you are going to clear 20k a year with such a house, on top of the 20k I mentioned for my little "wrinkle" . A home manager has to live there, a couple, best if they are retired on Ss, disability, or VA pension, they get $100 cash per week and a free couple of rooms, free utilitites, of course.
The dining room becomes a couple of bathrooms. the kitchen becomes a couple of laundry places. The living room becomes a couple of paying bedrooms. Enclose the front and back porches (build them if none exist) and each of them becomes a paying room.
