-Since it's an Owner-carry, do I still need to set up escrow for prepaids/homeowners ins/property taxes?

With seller carry backs you can get the seller to take a 2nd mortgage and carry most if not the entire down payment.

Second, if one of the units has a vacancy then the other unit or two can help carry the bills.

As a GC I can advise try to retain control of your finishing material orders (anything where you need to make a choice ((tile, flooring, lites, faucets, tubs)) vs. construction materials (2x4s, mortar, shingles)) because we get those discounts on the finishing items and we keep them!

They know their rate.The stock forms from my CPA include a tax comparison page that makes it easy to calculate the effective tax rate and compare line items year over year.

Have you ever overlooked a major item that needed replacing?

My CPA put that as loss in my tax return and carried it over.Next year they sold the property for a gain of 32K.

You can get money from family and friends, you can get the seller to provide financing, often called "Seller Financing" or a "Seller Carry" or you can get a lender to lend you close to all of the money needed (I see loans at and above 90% of purchase cost + 100% of improvements). 

Just wanted to thank everyone in this fantastic community - what a wealth of knowledge you all carry!

As a group we could come up with a detailed list of 30-50 items that are the basics a company needs to have before they ever speak with a potential investor.