Given that the property was worth $390K in its current condition, I saw an opportunity to make the numbers work while keeping my upfront costs low.Instead of increasing my cash offer, I negotiated a $25K down payment with the seller carrying the balance for two years through owner financing.

But if borrowing costs remain high and interest rates don't fall as many people expect, cap rates will have to decompress further. 

I get it...I get emotional with properties and buy into the sunk cost fallacy too.

to save costs, and responses sometimes took weeks.

I am open to it- but unfortunately, I am not looking to move until another 2-3 years- my partner and I rent an apartment on IOP and we love the location and the cost is actually incredibly low which is great.

With that, you could cover the costs for renovations, closing costs, or even set up escrow for those senior living sponsorships.

These traditionally have lower rates than cash-out refinances and will only cover your existing loan amount + closing costs, so you'll need an existing mortgage for this type of loan.4.

I'm with you that sidewalk slip and fall litigation may be less likely in the Midwest than say Mid Atlantic which tends to have more litigious cities but dismissing premises liability issues can come back to bite an investor and when these properties have such razor thin margins that an investor must consider the cost benefit analysis of safety against ROI, there is a real estate issue and is usually a losing proposition.   

I'm getting nervous that the area is eventually going to become unlivable because of the prohibitive cost of the insurance.

There are also additional costs of operating and maintaining an LLC, like separate bank accounts, annual report filings, tax filings, etc.2.