But it was a house on a corner lot and the back yard was really narrow - deck was pretty tight against the neighbors.  

She is dropping 6k tomorrow to convert from oil to gas heat, so her costs right now are scaring her.Waiting 2 weeks with a lower price would still mean it was empty on October 1 which is her self imposed deadline for rental.  

I hold tight right there.

If the seller doesn't like you, is in a very tight spot,wants to rob you blind, seller financing is one of the dreamer options.

If the deal was that tight to begin with then do not purchase a property.It's better to buy nothing at all than to have a property breakeven with bad debt keeping you down.You have to watch PM's because sometimes they will take a lower PM management fee but then get a referral fee each time from the contractor performing the repair that is in their network.

there's some planning that needs to happen and some deadlines and targets you need to pay attention to but what you're describing is a very common scenario from a 1031 perspective..Perhaps the largest issue is that of the current state of financing for a multi-family mixed us property.  

On Sep 4th, I asked my friend to deliver a "rent demand notice" (deadline set to Sep 14) and he told my friend that he is leaving by the end of September.

I'm planning to hire a PM company, but I'm looking to have very tight control around who they bring in as tenants.

I've got 2 duplexes there now and soon a little bit of cash coming in (sale of another house)...I'm looking to see if I can get a deal (I've read you said it was tight up there) that might need a little work.Chris

I focus on sellers with a problem, deadlines, things like that.