@Dion DePaoli , I already have a $1 Mil Liability Insurance policy on my rental property that also covers my cars and primary residence.I am also concerned with the Due on Sale Clause.

You mean to cover the costs of the sale and 3 or 4 K after years of holding it?

My offer is just enough to cover there mortgage and then some (170k for a 165k mortgage).

Another book I will recommend is:Every Landlord's Guide to Finding Great Tenants by Janet PortmanThe author is an attorney so she covers all the legal issues about renting property.

Would the income from the 4 plex cover the mortgage at that low of a down payment?

HomePath accepts at least up to a 3% sellers credit, so you could have not only lowered your net purchase price, but brought 3% CASH to the table - to cover your closing costs (or consider it a 12% downpayment..)

Bought new large machines for about $1700 I believe (delivered, w/ heavy security covers for coin boxes), so they should pay themselves off in about 2-3 years.

You can raise private money to cover all of the cash needs of a deal, so as long as you know how to manage contractors to produce results, and manage a management company over time to keep the property full, there is no reason not to go directly into multi-family.

One condo we did have foil wall paper embedded into the drywall, so we mudded primed and textured (orange peal) and there was no difference between the existing texture drywall and where we covered the wall paper.

I have a good amount of investment capital to cover down payments on 2-3 more duplexes.