I know I posted here after Greg B yesterday, and remarked that he covered the same territory a lot more succinctly than I.

I have several friends who have benefitted from buying a duplex, a single building with two usually identical apartments, and renting one out. Let the apartment pay most or all of the morgtage. You have to choose good neighbors since you're in the same building with them. These can come pretty close to being just like a freestanding house, with a garage, a yard, and the usual space you would expect on a standard lot.

You can do a lot of poking around yourself to see what is available through realtor.com. That's how I've found the last two houses (one fell through, but that was because of a whacko seller, not due to the web site.)

The house I'm in now is one I passed by many times as I looked in this neighborhood. It was the ugliest house on the block, due to bad color selection in the paint job and absolutely no landscaping to speak of. A classic rent house. I finally walked inside to rule it out and discovered fine woodwork throughout that blew me away. It was neglected, not damaged, a good one to putter in after some basic upgrades. I did a lot of work, but have come up with a great house.

Before and After and different "After" angle. I need to mow the grass. My retired next door neighbor is always a couple of days ahead of me. And I need to get more Bermuda out of some of the beds. You know how it is when you have your own patch of dirt to work on. I think the house could be a shack if I could putter in the garden. I know we share the same disease. I'm aiming at turning one of those segments of the front into the kind of planting you have in your current front yard.

SRS