Paying a bit more might be justified if the pro forma income is very achievable, but $360,000 seems too high unless renovations are already complete.Factor in the costs and timeline for completing renovations for the studio and the fifth park-owned home.

You'll learn a lot just from starting out like that with little to no experience at all (cosmetic renovation cost, managing current tenants, leasing out a unit).

I live in California, this is a bay area property.were not looking to move out of state and house hacking is less palatable when a duplex costs 1.6 million.

One of the biggest issues is probably borrower default—whether due to mismanagement, market downturns, or unforeseen circumstances, lenders can end up in long, costly recovery processes.

My duplex - built 1989, 2,060 sf, 2 bed/bath, 1 year old roof, value if I subdivide (county already approved) and sell each separately $150k each ($300k total)Investor duplex - built 1995, 2,300 sf, 2 bed/bath, 5 year old roof, value around $310kThe investors initial request was for an equal trade and they would pay realtor fees, which I replied wouldn't be equal due to buying/selling costs (recording fees, title insurance, closing fee, survey, inspections, loan fees, 1031 fees, accountant fees, repairs), taxes would increase due to new sale price, I'd trade a 3.75% mortgage for a higher one, and I'm on the 10th year of a 30 year loan so resetting that to a new loan would restart amortization and pay more towards interest.

So I would say either you need an agent who is a better negotiator than you and justifies their cost or if you value a professional opinion who can double check you.

Some serious baked in costs for each. 

You will incur more lending costs but you will only be in the first loan for 6 months.

I'm not satisfied with not filing the rental in an LLC simply because it's more simple and might cost me an additional filing fee .

I won’t sugar coat it when I first got in I didn’t realize the over head cost to run a business .