With the fund I used, they had a month where they had a few defaults, the return was a bit lower, and they sent out an email apologizing for the lower yield. 

Regarding price, do you have any suggestions on how I can get him to agree to a lower price?

Single-family homes offer higher cash flow, lower maintenance, and potential equity growth, but may have less privacy and slower unit growth.Good luck!

Once we lowered the price to $1 less than everyone in town we filled right up.

Further context, I have zero debt, high 700s credit score, one other investment property here locally. 175k in cash available, looking to do DSCR loans or cash and then refinance.Peoria, Illinois- Great need for lower income housing, market appears to have many options.Lawton, Oklahoma- Looking only at extremely cheap properties, as it seems it’s not terribly hard to find renters.

Alternatively, your in-laws could partially gift the property by using the annual gift tax exclusion ($34K per couple annually), lowering the sale price and their taxable gain.

Also HELOC's typically have lower interest rates than personal loans since it is secured by your home.

They get a higher return since they are covering housing cost, have the $250k per spouse primary residence deduction in gains, is a savings account, higher leverage position, lower interest rate possible, will pay more premium for location, etc.House might be overpriced for REITs but not for home owners.  

However, if single-family homes prove financially viable, I’m happy to continue building in that niche.Since these homes and projects are significantly cheaper than my market, the risk is relatively lower for me and can do at least two at a time.The ChallengeOne of the biggest hurdles is finding reliable contractors and subcontractors in the area.

Sherman does seem interesting though because of the lower cost and growth potential.