You are just going to assume the fence is on the line? Why? You could be giving up a lot of your property, which I imagine any new owners (if you sell) would not be very happy about! You need to get an RE lawyer involved - you can't possibly start drawing up agreements based on things as they are, let alone that you know next to nothing about the law or how such things are dealt with. Stop guessing, stop either accepting or resenting what she did with the gate - find out what's what before it's too late altogether!

I had a full boundary survey. It cost me 700.00 dollars. They gave me a detailed map of the property lines & they put new stakes in the ground on all sides. Everything was fine & the old markers were fine, except on the side of the nutty neighbors. The dog stays in the house until we take him out. He's rarely left out alone & if so, only if I have to run in the house for something. He's a large breed dog & a bully breed--a doberman, so I would not want anyone to get hurt. He also doens't like these neighbors. That's why I don't risk leaving him alone now. As for the title, the title company did not report any kind of encroachment. They relied on the existing stakes that were in the yard. If you looked at the stakes in the yard, everything made sense... if it were not for that gate & that fence--. I got a survey only because I needed to know about the gate & fence & needed one to get a permit for the fence. It was also something that needed to be done. Anyway, the neighbors finally told me that the stakes were moved. I asked my "neighbors" & they said they added stakes, because the old ones were under their new concerete driveway & that the original stakes were in the wrong place anyway. So, they said they were just "correcting them". If you looked at the stakes they put down on their side, nothing was encroaching. I did tell the city about them moving the stakes & I have witnesses in the community that know about it. The surveyor also made a note about stakes of "unknown origin" behing present during the survey. They removed them... they were not set very deep into the ground, but looked like the real thing. Their addition doesn't predate existing codes. A permit has been required since the 70's for the area I live in. You can clearly see that the building & fence are no more than 3 or 4 years old. The fence looks so bad because they pull into their yard speeding & have bumped it a few times. Like I said, it's not an easy situation. But, I think it can be resolved with the help of the city & a lawyer or by moving & letting someone else deal with this mess!

I bought a condo before getting married. I bought my first condo (2bed/2bath) with the intention of getting a roommate to help with the mortgage. When we married, my husband already had a house, so I moved into the house, and we turned the condo into a rental. We had about $100 per month negative cash flow in the beginning. Many years prior to that, my then single husband bought a house in a suburb. Hated it, and bought another in the city and turned the suburban house into a rental. But, he remodeled the new house, ran out of money, rented out the house and he himself rented a small room to save money.... When he finally moved back into the newly remodeled home, he had many roommates to help with the finances. When we were first married, we built a mother in law apartment in the basement and rented that out. That helped with our expenses. We did not ask her to leave until my son was 2 years old. We then reclaimed the basement for ourselves. (You asked for stories and sacrifices...) We now have enough cash flow so not having rental income for a few months is not a big deal. This gives us the luxury of picking "good" tenants. We only pick tenants who are professionals with good jobs and stellar credit and rental record. The longest we have had vacant rental is about 3 months. We are also in an urban environment where many young professionals cannot afford to buy due to the housing price. Most houses in a suburban subdivision do not make a good rental, unless you can make the rent 1/3 or less than the monthly mortgage of buying the property. (now days, that may not be true because of the downpayment requirements have gone up for buying a home...) Like most everything else in real estate, it's location, location, location that determines the rentability, the amount of rent, the type of tenant etc. We have never needed to go to section 8 route. My condo is very close to the University and Medical school. We almost always have medical residents as tenants(currently dental student and the working spouse). We don't rent to undergrads. They have "no income" and do not qualify in our minds. Our suburban house is near many tech firms in the area, and we tend to get techies with well paying jobs living in the house. melle sacto, not only do you need to have enough money to get through prolonged vacancy, you need to be able to deal with unforseen emergencies quickly. These rentals are your investments. You don't want to do anything to devalue that investment. For example, we had a leak in a very old bathroom. We decided that it was a good time to update the bathroom rather than "patch" fix the bathroom when the tenants moved out. The tenants move out when they want to not when you have the money to fix the bathroom. Like any other business, you need to have available capital when you need it. In order to rent the property quickly, you need to make it look fresh with regular painting, yard maintenance, deep cleaning, etc etc. The most recent tenant turn over uncovered very old sliding glass doors that were not closing property due to age and settling etc. It was noticeable enough and would have detracted from the house from the potential tenants point of view. Again, we had to spend a few thousand $ to get them replaced. This is a regular part of being a landlord. We will probably get one more rental, either a duplex or a quadplex. (our next door neighbor probably has 10 houses/buildings or more) Anything larger than that, we are not willing to manage ourselves. We call trades people for just about everything that needs to be done. It is not worth doing it ourselves at this point. Initially, you will have to do everything yourselves, ie painting, yard work, cleaning, etc. If you and your husband are handy, you will spend less money versus calling someone in. Again, this is not on your schedule but the house's schedule. My brother has a dulplex that he rents out and also the house my parents willed to him. He too had to spend money when things happen. (both of our rentals needed new blower for the furnace this last winter.) We just laugh when these things happen.... Unlike calliope, I consider the risk I take with the rentals as a controlled risk. I actually think it is much less of risk than money I put in the stock market. However, a rental has little potential for huge growth as would in some stocks. To be a successful landlord, you also need to learn your market. In some markets, it is not a feasible business model. For example, I would not buy a rental in a rural area with high unemployment. But I would buy a rental in an urban environment with a large number of transient well paid professionals. Rental properties are a part of our entire portfolio along with other more and less risky things.

If your ground isn't too rocky, dig as deep a hole for your 4x4's as you can manage with your post hole digger. A good gravel base at the bottom is always a good idea. If you use concrete, screw some good size screws in the submerged part of your post on all sides and let them project enough to give the concrete something to lock onto (and still fit your post into your hole). You don't have to use concrete. Gradual misalignment can be corrected. Your concrete laden post might be less likely to shift, but it does get misaligned, it will be a lot harder to re-position. I'm just an amateur but I've done a few of these. One thing I would strongly advise is to build your gate in the opening you are going to use it in. The first time I did this I took measurements and made the frame somewhere else, when I tried it I found it to be a poor fit. Instead get a helper and make a level platform at the height above ground you want your gate to be. Cut the parts elsewhere but assemble your frame right in the opening, it worked a lot better for us. A diagonal brace for the door would be much recommended I think.