Nice job @Lakota Tidd!
My wife and I bought our first house/duplex last year and it has been a long time coming to where we are now. We're also in GR and our tenants are moving in this weekend @ $1,650 for a 3br/1.5ba.
It's located on Orchard Hill St. SE right in Eastown and the only way we were able to afford it is bc we purchased from family. This duplex was owned by my grandparents for 25 years - it was where we had Christmas and Thanksgiving etc.. and when they passed away (existing mortgage still in place) I approached my mom who was placed as executor of the trust with a tongue-in-cheek offer.
"We're looking for a duplex to buy anyway, we can afford roughly $235,000... so why don't we buy the family duplex, extinguish the mortgage so nobody has to deal with it, you and your sisters get a nice check and keep the house in the family at the same time!"
She had to discuss it with her two sisters but eventually it became a reality. The only way we were able to pull this off was because of a little known fact that (at least in Michigan) when buying from family you can use the equity that may be in the home as a gifted down payment. We were able to use conventional financing, avoiding PMI, putting nothing down. We owe $188k and the duplex appraised at $265k!
