They want to sell for as much as possible.Use the broker's pro forma as a thumb to the wind guide for your interest along with the rest of the offering memo (right location, asset class, etc.). 

It had multiple offers the day it was listed (like everywhere) but now the financing of the buyer is falling through. 

Cities like Cleveland offer affordable properties, strong rental demand, and solid cash flow potential.

Telling sellers everything wrong with their house and justifying your offer with repair costs doesn’t build trust—it kills it.

It wouldn’t work in a red hot market like we had a few years ago where everything was selling super fast, but in todays market there isn’t as much urgency to see properties and get offers in immediately.  

They had listed it for $40k more in 8/24 and dropped consistently until 12/24, when I made my offer.

I believe in putting in the work—1,000 hours of research, testing, and learning—before offering advice, and I’m excited to tap into the collective wisdom of this community to refine my approach.Here’s where my head is at: I’m considering strategies like short-term rentals (Airbnb) for higher cash flow, long-term rentals for steady income, or even creative options like house hacking or partnerships to stretch the funds further.

Being that rates are up it's another way to offer exatly what you mentioned; the chance to own for a couple hundred bucks more than renting.Thoughts?

Yes trying to find info as well, offered 1031 and/or straight investment $s w 6 month min lockup period for a return in the 14s, seems too good(i know what they say, lol)

On the other hand, many landlords were able to obtain low mortgage rates during the historically low interest rate environment during the Pandemic, allowing them to offer a much more attractive housing cost to renters.