There is no "Best" cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all solution.  

The only benefit paid to your family is the face value of the policy, the $125,000 in our example.The truth is that you would be better off to get the $7 term policy and put the extra $93 in a cookie jar!

There is no cookie cutter, one size fits all approach."  

Maybe take some cookies to the neighbors and ask if they have a phone number?

The house was built in 1974.My question is, is it something I should stay away from, or is it just a cookie cutter statement that some appraisers like to put in their report?  

I used to work at one of the nations largest online lenders and I can tell you if your scenario is perfect then you won't encounter much, but like when dealing with anything slightly outside the cookie cutter loans you do it's hit or miss.

And I've done a number of cookie cutter, average home buyer houses.  

@Jonathan Farber When my daughters have a big cookie to split, one of them cuts it, and the other gets to choose which piece she wants...maybe you have the other person offer a buy out program, and you get to choose if you want to buy him out or have him buy you out.

Lots of possibilities, it's not your typical cookie cutter type house/area, which is why we're really on the fence about what to do.

Since you didn't specify, I'm going to assume you're talking a loan for a residential non-owner occupied (investment) SFR.There are sometimes ways around a down payment with commercial banks/credit unions but it would typically involve cross-collateralizing a portfolio (or putting up equity you have in other properties as collateral towards the purchase of another property).And depending on your goals, plans, and exit strategy, of course there's other ways to get your way into a property ... private money, hard money, or pooling together various unsecured lines of credit from banks or financial institutions (or secured - just against another property. your primary residence for example, being owner occupied, is much easier to get a line of credit on than non-owner occ).But for your cookie cutter run of the mill type situations, my experience with traditional banks/credit unions in NC is that, depending on credit, assets, experience, etc, you're looking at at least 20% - 30% down on non-owner occupied residential properties.