If you can save up for a slightly higher down payment your margin for success will be significantly higher.Also, I strongly agree with the "buy the worst in a great neighborhood, live in the worst unit of the triplex and slowly fix it up yourself."

We are starting to see homes come on the market that have suffered damage from hurricane Helene and instead of having them fixed, some are just listing them as is.

Proper bookkeeping will help keep track of who has what dollar amount invested into the property in case of a buyout or a death.  

Once you fix it up, you could refinance to pay off the HML.If you do it right, you should have enough sweat & forced equity to have 10-20% equity for the refinance.

And if it's a high amount, would you be better off just using that as a downpayment and get a standard new investment loan?

It had 22 of the 25 lots occupied but we'll be fixing it up, filling it up, billing back water and raising rent up to market.

The gurus and seminars often draw people who are broke or unhappy with their lives, and are looking for an easy fix.

@Jonathan Greene I don't mind them generally but when they raise huge amounts for syndications that go south that is another story.

If they pay the new amount on time no problem.

that we’ve learned in our 24 years, managing almost 700 doors across the Metro Detroit area, including almost 100 S8 leases:Class A Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, 3-5 years for positive cashflow, but you get highest relative rent & value appreciation.Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, 5% the more recent norm.Tenant Pool: Majority will have FICO scores of 680+ (roughly 5% probability of default), zero evictions in last 7 years.Class B Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, decent amount of relative rent & value appreciation.Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, 5% should be applied only if proper research done to support.Tenant Pool: Majority will have FICO scores of 620-680 (around 10% probability of default), some blemishes, but should have no evictions in last 5 yearsClass C Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, high cashflow and at the lower end of relative rent & value appreciation.