Can I use seller credit for closing costs?

[Dwight Cook]

Hey everyone,

My wife and I are currently looking to purchase our first rental property. This is located in upstate New York. The owner of the property is selling the triplex we are looking at and a duplex right next door. I’m not sure why but he wants to sell them both to the same person so he won’t accept an offer on just the triplex. We negotiated the triplex down to $78,000 and they fix the electric panel in the basement before they told us they wanted to sell them together. They have the duplex listed for $72,000. We are working with a bank for the triplex that is letting us do 20% down ($15,600) and they estimate closing costs to be $8,000 so we would be into that deal $23,600. If we did the same thing for the duplex we would be at $14,400 down and we assume $8,000 for closing. All together both deals would cost $46,000. We currently have $40,000 saved, we can cash advance up to $3,500 on our credit card as a last resort. We are trying to figure out a way to make up the difference. We are thinking that if they would appraise for it we could offer $82,000 and $76,000 and put in the contract for $4,000 seller credit on each. Would this work? Will a bank finance 2 loans at once? Me and my wife both have over 760 credit scores. The estimated cash flow between these two properties will be $1300 a month. Any guidance on this is greatly appreciated!