Some buyers do utilize second home financing options to secure their vacation property, which is nice because it allows the applicant to go up to 90% financing on a full documentation loan. 

Here are the numbers, so you can see what I mean.The numbers are the following: 359,900.00 sales price (purchased Dec 2015) 89,975.00 down payment (25%) 10,000.00 closing cost (estimate - I don’t remember the exact figure) 7,000.00 required rehab (estimate - I don’t remember the exact figure) 106,975.00 Cash invested 3,900.00 Rental Income (actual figures) 150.00 Parking Income (actual figures) 4,050.00 Total Inflows (400.00) Utilities (250.00) repair budget (not an actual outflow, yet) (2,200.00) Mortgage (Includes insurance, taxes, and P&I) 1,200.00 Operating Inflows 14,400.00 Yearly inflow 13.46% ROI If I were to use the 50% rule I would have discarded the property. 

40 acres of unimproved land with no utilities.

Unless the home seller / buyer has extensive experience in real estate THE HOMEOWNER SHOULD NOT DO ANY REAL ESTATE TRANSACTION UNLESS HE UTILIZES THE SERVICES OF AN EXPERIENCED REAL ESTATE ATTORNEY. 

For BRRR connect with @Joseph Chiofalo can probably help you utilize some of your equity positions with investor friendly HELOC and definitely help with low down payment 1-4 units. 

.- 1031 Exchange: Utilize a 1031 exchange to defer capital gains taxes when selling properties, allowing you to reinvest the full amount into new investments.9.

My tenants pay for their own utilities, and I own homes in Memphis, TN, but I was wondering if this was a solid strategy for tax benefits and energy conservation or to see if anyone else does this for their rentals. 

If This were happening in California it would be a whole different ball game..... they would turn om the utilities and give them food stamps LOL 

So, the long end of the curve is LOWER then the short end therefor ARM's have very little utility at the moment.  

They would pay all utilities and maintenance on the property and provide 2 months security deposit.