You have a few options1) wholesale the property and collect a few thousand dollars to help build toward buying a deal yourself 2) See if the seller will do a carry back of the total downpayment amount or a partial amount (assumes you can qualify for the loan)3) See if seller will 100% finance (chances are slim but not impossible)4) Borrow the downpayment from someone (assumes you can qualify for the loan)5) Bring in a partner on the deal and split the equity.

@Douglas SpenceGetting things up to date will help, painting is the greatest return for DIY in my opinion, but adding square footage, converting a bedroom or bathroom really raises the appraisal up, otherwise you’re squeezing to get that high price per square foot with what you have, but limited to the comps in your area, which are often slim with MFHs.

Any possible flip opportunity gets multiple offers and winning offers usually have slim margins. 

MLS is slim pickens right now in my opinion.

The #1 trepidation I have is the very slim odds that the bank says "give us all the money back from the HELOC that you've drawn", or less scary but still possible, close off unused credit line that I was relying on for renovations and carrying costs.From those of you knowledgeable on the matter, how much of a risk do you perceive this is?

Good day all, I'm stuck in analysis paralysis due to Miami Dade's property prices.I'm very motivated to get out of renting and into owning my first property but the prices for Duplexs and Apartments just continue to climb, killing their already slim cash flow metrics.Any multi family property is $350,000 and well above. 

I didn't want to use my VA for my first home ( I live in the Baltimore area and finding duplex,triplex,quadplex is slim to none), and not be able to use an FHA for another later on.

Contractors are also extremely busy right now, so if you don't have the property under contract you shouldn't expect any contractor to waste their time giving you a free quote for a project that has a very slim chance of actually happening.So ideally, you should be able to inspect the property, create a SOW and create a preliminary estimate upfront for the property so you can make an accurate assessment of what the property is worth and what you should offer for the property.Once you get the property under contract, you will generally have a 10 to 14 day window to perform inspections/due diligence where you could have an Inspector or Contractors out to give you quotes...but again Contractors are extremely busy, so it could take a week+ to get Contractors coordinate and get a quote back.Once you get your Contractor quotes back you can re-evaluate the deal and make a 'go/no-go' decision or renegotiate a price reduction.With that said, you could wasting a lot of peoples time by not knowing your numbers up front and making bad offers that you can't stand behind.  

The ROI on granite countertops and stainless steel appliances is pretty slim in C class properties.My model is to renovate and increase rents.

The MLS is tough and margins are slim so we are moving in this direction.