They only accept cash.

Cash flow great.  

However, co-living allows you to acquire properties with as little as 0%-5% down, drastically reducing the amount of cash required.Instead of needing $100K+ to buy a rental, a co-living strategy lets you start with a fraction of the cost while achieving higher returns.3.

You are correct that putting 3.5% down on a fourplex likely won't cash flow after one year.

I have run numbers for LTRs on a set of duplexes that seem to cash flow well.

@Matt Tortora For cash flow? 

Purchase price: $178,000 Cash invested: $10,000 primary home own use has an Airbnb/ short term rental 5 months out the year/sometime this year will try BRRRR

Are you cash flowing the property?

This implies my cash flow will improve quickly and over a long hold is likely to have better cash flow than the low RE cost market that had better initial cash flow.  

Personally, I would hang on to the cash.