I'm still saying this is/was a cash flow positive opportunity.I understand your other points and agree there is merit to many of them.

You need to educate yourself on the merits of owner financing, creative financing.

There are many posts on the finer points of wholesaling, and many with real-world examples and lively debates on the all the merits and disadvantages of various methods. 

Or they are buying it to have a place to live with have a little bit of payment offset (renting the other unit) and not as a fully self sufficient investment on its merits. 

(Now that I think about it, this may have some merit because a friend of the buyer could claim a $10,000 assignment fee and the buyer and his friend could split the "fee" for quick cash.)

I do like the thought of commercial borrowing by merit of the the property itself rather than my debt to income.

Ryan maybe that has some merit in the residential space for little houses.My clients buying commercial properties millions to tens of millions in sales price that is not the case.

@jay hinrichs  those stories merit their own podcast! 

I'm not arguing the merits of Zillows Zestimates, but after extensive use I would argue they are the best in their class.

Patti you can avoid the obstacle of non- recourse financing by purchasing multi family properties of a size where the lender requires no collateral other than the merits of the property.