If you don’t have someone then interview a few (not at the property) and arrange to show the unit to your top pick. 2.

For our business model, we've decided not to take on any more JV partners with this kind of arrangement.

I'm still at the analysis stage of buying my first owner-occupied multifamily and have recently come close to putting and offer down.  

They know how to contact the owner, arrange for the owner to settle with the bank, then buy the house from the owner.

I’d be very skeptical of this arrangement especially since they hinted early on a dog being in the house .

The property was in primo condition and was staged with nice new fashionable stuff by a professional stager.1.

How high you can go up on such a small size parcel can make a big difference in returns.If the buildings are old the procedure to tear them down could get expensive.Also tenants on current leases the disruption to their businesses would likely need to do in stages more (start and stopping) with development and meanwhile labor and material costs can go up.

The unit is a two stage XL80 Trane gas furnace. 

You really want to focus in the early stages on the cash on cash return.

The property management companies knowing you are states away can be lazy and let things fall through the cracks.One strategy is to buy a nicer new house stage zero of development in a subdivision with mainly homeowners and rent it out to tenants.