With the amount of equity you're saying you have in your home I'm betting you could do a 4 unit deal without outside investment.4.

You won't be able to buy fully rehabbed properties for 80% of their value unless the owner is motivated to sell for some reason.Working with a realtor, who understands what you're looking for, will be your best bet to find properties like that but this will also mean you'll need to find a contractor who can rehab the place, even if just cosmetic, so you can rent it out or flip it for top dollar.

Plenty of folks here will weigh in on certain markets, but I bet if you're willing to do something like that are share some results you will get more responses but also have a good foundation to start filtering suggestions.

I think it may be that people are putting that 'stupid' price up and not finding a sucker, more than indicator of the market.

but finding that off-market deal or connecting with someone who is just starting to think about listing a property and hasn't yet is your best bet.

She gave the example of a friend and their kid betting on whether they'd like a movie or not.

I haven't looked at their calendars recently, but your best bet to find a local meetup are the 3 area REIA's:utahreia.org, nureia.org, slreia.com

@Brian Dombrowski any time you are providing private money, whether for equity or as a loan you best bet is to have a lawyer that specializes in RE draw up the agreement and assist you with the structure.There are a dozens answers to your question depending on many items, with who and if all the investors are under the same LLC etc. etc.Every investor I know that has done private financing had their lawyer draw up an agreement that the "borrower" accepted and signed. 

Today's market is tough in most places; keep looking and don't compromise this is all about making money and I don't bet on appreciation at this stage of the market.

You appear to be a property manager so I'm willing to bet you follow this same process.You appear to live in Pennsylvania so I will tell you what your state law says: Prepaid Rent: A landlord is only allowed to collect up to 2 month’s rent for escrow purposes, 1 month’s rent during any subsequent years. (68 P.S. §§250.511a.)A recent ruling in PA makes clear that it doesn't matter if you call it prepaid rent or last month's rent or security deposit.