We need to secure financing, and have talked to several lenders with varying options from ARMs to conventional mortgages. we've purchased several homes as primary residences, but this is our first investment property and I want to make sure we're not screwing up here.One loan we got a quote on was a 10 year balloon, 5 year fixed, with an adjustment after 5 years and then locked in again until year 10.

I'm curious what people knowledgeable of the area see in the market when adjusting for risk (growth, crime, etc..)

Let's say most of the loan product you run into will be around 15-20 year notes, has some kind of balloon, and has an adjustable rate.

Everything looks good except the Cash on Cash ROI. its around 5 % and I cant figure out how to adjust the numbers to get it to 12 %.Can anyone help me?

A lease is something you will likely always be changing and adjusting as you see fit.

Also as rents sky rocketed in those posh areas such as downtown Seattle, people adjusted and probably rented further away.

The landlord first threatened to deduct money from our deposit if the short bushes in the flowerbed died, so I started watering the flowerbed by manually turning on the irrigation system and turning it off ten or twenty minutes later.

Kris Krohn is selling what he calls 'Lease Option Pro Plus' which is supposed to be a bunch of videos teaching a person how to do real estate using lease options along with manuals on how to execute it. 

@Jacob D. unqualified perspective, but those benchmarks look good (I will be adjusting them for the ATL market and borrowing them).

Maybe try to get a statement for each property (adjusted to closing date) for the liens and have them paid out at settlement?