I don't think your first property needs to be perfect, but doing the work in advance gives you the possibility of refi (in a good rate environment) or more equity on a HELOC.

I have been investing mainly in trust deeds but like you got connected with Dave and just recently ended up investing in his fund, my primary reason was for diversification and because it is passive. 

My interest rate and purchase price wouldn’t allow for positive cash flow unless I charged an unreasonable rent—or put about $500K toward the principal, which isn't ideal.I’m a high earner, so I’m weighing my options:Take the loss ($60K-$100K), buy another house, and chalk this up to a hard lesson learned.Refinance, put more money into it, and rent it out long-term—even if it’s not immediately profitable.Invest my money elsewhere and try to make peace with staying here for several years.Would love to hear thoughts from anyone with experience in real estate, financial strategy, or noise mitigation.

It is going to be near impossible to cash flow on a property with 100% financing, especially if that partners rates are above conventional rates.

I'm still in the process of finding an alternative solution but I thought I'd leave this here as a warning for others looking to make a decision.For reference, I'll just post their email response to me here:As we review your inquiry, we would like to remind you of the following key points from our Terms of Use:In no instance shall ShinePay be liable for any of the following:"Lost revenue from service interruptions.Lost revenue stemming from delays, malfunctions of any product.unauthorized gains access to your account or due to shared passwords or if your password is hacked.Destruction to properly, places, or personal injury resulting from the installation, misinstalling, or misuse of any product.Lost revenue from entering the wrong account number for ACH or other bank transfer or money transfers or due to any delay in receiving funds.Damage to your structure, machines or car resulting from use or installation of our products.Any funds collected that are paid to a person that does not own the property.Any harm from defeating the lock and technology that controls the lock to a device.Failure to properly service any product or machine."

If your Realtor is anything like me, they want to spend any marketing funds where the most eyes will be. 

I wanted to help them out and minimize their loss and saw an opportunity to get a property slightly below market because of my commission savings, immediate mortgage and maintenance relief, in addition to keeping a lower short term interest rate How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

The key is for you to separate the utility costs from the rent, then advertise your units with the rent rate only and explain the utilities later.HOW TO SHARE UTILITIES 101You have a property with two or more units and the utility meters are shared.

We had a 70/30 investor structure to fund this deal.

For funding, explore options like FHA loans, personal savings, or creative financing, and focus on New Jersey markets that align with your goals, such as Newark for rentals or commuter towns for house hacking.