...what starts out with great intentions ends up being totally fucked and skewed in the end.

We (my wife's family) owns a house 2 doors down from me. It was her Grandfather's home where her mother was raised.

It's not rented. It has sat "empty" for about 5 years now. We leave it partially furnished and let close friends and family stay there when they're in town...but it won't be officially rented to anyone.

It doesn't fall under rent control due to it being a single family home, but it's still governed by local tenant laws, which are strongly favored to tenants. My in-laws are both pushing 80 and don't want the hassle. It's been owned free and clear for decades. The property tax basis is 90K dollars as an assessed value. If they rented to someone they have tenants rights at 30 days and then if they needed to retake possession of the house for any reason, get ready to stroke a check for tens of thousands of dollars to "buy them out".

It's more hassle than it's worth to them...and I'm totally fine having a spare house 2 doors away that will eventually end up mine anyway. It's a shame, because we know several families that could really use the help of a reduced rate house...but once they're in, you might find that no matter what the sweet deal you give them...all that goes out the window when you establish the landlord/renter relationship.