Very few accurately price the cost of doing business in lower tier neighborhoods into their pro-forma and that gets investors into trouble. 

Generally places with high cash flow on paper are cheap homes in not so great areas where you have higher turnover, damages and real cash flow is lower.

I am willing to go as high as $480k but obviously would like to avoid it if I could do it for much lower. 

Would you be able to get a mortgage on the duplex at perhaps a lower LTV amount and have them either escrow the taxes or use the funding to pay the tax balance in full and use the remaining funds for the renovation?

Again, I'm personally bullish given that it lowers the barriers to entry while taking away a lot of the headaches that come with owning real estate.

Hey @Glenn Larson  You’re right, seller financing really depends on the seller’s flexibility and the specifics of the deal, but I can give you a couple of typical structures to think about:Interest-only payments: In this setup, you pay the seller interest on the loan without paying down the principal right away, giving you time to stabilize the property or improve cash flow before paying it off or refinancing.Balloon payment: You might negotiate a lower monthly payment (possibly interest-only) with a balloon payment due after 5-10 years.

It might be higher priced or lower priced, but you have to do what you have to do to make it work.

This will also give the maximum possible money at a lower rate and refi the same property again if interest rates drop substantially.

It’s priced competitively using area comps (even slightly lower), it shows well, and we even allow dogs (no cats). 

Co-hosting is lower cost and easier to scale once you have your systems in place.