The 10% required at closing, was raised from a partner whom owns 50% of the deal.

Second, and maybe a little more work on your end, network with other investors to raise private money.

I see this as a test.

The job would be easier than a home inspection because they aren't testing all the outlets and appliances, walking the roof, crawling the attic, etc.

Rents were raised to market rent on the rented unit within 6 months of my client owning the property (it wasn't that far under to begin with) and as it turns out one of the tenants was planning to leave within a couple months of close anyway so they were easily able to satisfy their owner occupant requirement.

I was able to use their feedback to offer them certain things like being able to have a pet in exchange for a new lease which allowed me to raise the rent immediately.

Many investor raise prices until they have somewhere from 60-70% occupancy to maximize profits.

My husband and I decided to do a cash out refinance to raise capital for additional investment properties.  

May answer as to what you need to know before you make an offer is basically "everything" with the exception of less than obvious defects to the structure or situations that need environmental testing.

There are also plenty of places that have caps - let's say the sales price is 50% higher, and the county might even want to raise the property taxes by 50%, but there might be a law in place that limits them to raising property taxes 10%/year.Lots of people do what you're talking about, especially commercial real estate and mortgage brokers.