Hi Norbin, welcome to BP, Multi-family units are great for many reasons, and in Upstate NY, i see quite a large amount of vacant properties so your market "upstate" is very plentiful with undervalued properties that could be acquired with low money, it surprises me why so many homes sit empty and most look very nice,  like the owners just said "im done" and walked out of it. but if your looking to get into  multi's have you considered getting a duplex/triplex and do a live in renovation renting out your current home. i don't fully know your situation but that can be a successful way to get into multi family units with sort of training wheels plus your current residence would be behind you producing income . again if you go that route,  and as far as funding your next unit would depend on your credit/ private money lenders/ partners/ what money you have / deals you can strike with owners. example "seller financing" ect.  

It strikes me that having the right partners is crucial- there is nothing like the moral support of like-minded individuals to keep going when the going gets tough!

If you shoot for a home run every time, you're going to strike yourself out.  

MO LL T Lawhttp://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/overview-la...On the option to buy, I like to give an option to buy, say on a $100K comped house- Strike/option price for 12 mo is $97,000- Option non refundable consideration is $3,000, not applied toward purchase.Dodd Frank has to do with "financing" the owner occupant.

You strike gold when you find a pre-foreclosure, probate, etc. that's not on the market yet.Do your driving-for-dollars, then check anything you find in the public records to look for potential deals.

Sometimes it takes seeing an opportunity others don't (infill/new construction), and other times it's being the quickest/most competitive to strike on an opportunity that others do see. 

Some say having money before striking the deal leads to over-paying but I think I'm disciplined enough to ward that off for the most part.

Attention seasoned multi-family property investors:To offer or not to offer100 unitsAsking price $8M60% 12 mos leases40% monthly leasesTotal 97% occupancyMy underwriting with the assumptions of all the avg expenses looks great.12.13 COC and 8.73 CapRate and strike price is $7.5M so there's a high probability of offer being accepted.The HUGE issue is that their actual expenses are off the charts

Knowing when to strike—like a cobra—requires patience, poise, and an impeccable sense of timing.

Things to think about are the length of OW you want them to carry, interest rate, down payment, strike price and is there any of your monthly payment going towards a buyer credit?