00% VA financing and he also wants me to pay $6000 for his closing costs/prepaids.

Banks aren't big fans of vacation rentals yet and would rather see a lease signed for $1000 a month than have $30,000 in pre-paid bookings (but what if they cancel?!?!)

What are your thoughts given the numbers and what route may be the best to go, as well as how that compares to other larger institutions and their loan options.In order they are:1)  3% down, prepaid mortgage insurance, single family.2)  3.5% down, FHA, 1-4 unit.3)  0% down , Utah housing NO PMI loan, single family.4)  5% down, prepaid mortgage insurance, 2 unit.I don't think I can come up the the 5% down but if it seems like the best viable option I may be able to squeeze it. 

Generally closing costs in my area not including pre-paids are going to be closer to $2500 plus pro-rated taxes and the year of insurance up front. 

If someone doesn’t have a bank account they can use cash to purchase a pre-paid Visa card and use that.

With regard to STRs, when using cash basis, you don't really get a good picture of how your business is doing and prepaid expenses can make your financial reports look really inconsistent; large income/expenses one month, then very little income/expenses in another. 

It includes all major assets & liabs, inc some pers prop that has value (or is individually insured) & I would consider selling to fund new found opportunities or if there was a major emergency requiring a change in budgeting/liquidity.My PBS is currently three pages long, broken into sections w/ sub totals to assist in analysis:AssetsReal Prop (Assessed, Purchase/Rent data, 2-3 free online providers like Redfin, then averaged.)Personal Property (Cars, Art, Hard Assets, things not in an account or "foggy" daily market value)Cash Accounts (ie funds w/ access not limited by age, Banks, Brokerages, CVLI, prepaid taxes,large pending incomes like insurance settlements & reimbursements owed to me.)MineSpouseCo-AccountsRetirement Accounts (or anything where access to the value is age restricted)MineSpouseBusiness 1 (Net number carried over from separate business records)Business 2 (List as needed)Liabilities (Would section these out too if I had enough to justify it)Listed in order of assets above if tied to such, mortgages, HELOC, etc.General liabilities listed next, largest to smallest.Net Worth CalculationThen I include several lines of totals; subtotal of amount available for conversion to REI, ratios & simple measures like mo / mo & trailing 12 mo avg % & $ return.My FI goal is over the long term to average at least 1% mo / mo gain in net worth.I have found this to be best for me for several reasons:I have a hard time visualizing a set $ amount as a goal because my amount required to retire would then seem too big to tackle.

Closing cost are things like title work, recording fees, reimbursement to seller for pre-paid items (taxes/oil/propane), etc.Closing cost should be lower on a seller finance deal as there are no banks involved.Your title company will be able to give you a close estimate, call and ask. 

Most want a simple "cosmetic" rehab that can be finished in 90 days.Regardless, I always advise any VA loan buyer to write an offer such that Seller pays 4% of sale price back to Buyer to pay all possible closing costs and pre-paid items ( like the first years worth of home owner insurance, etc.).

Here are the numbers:Purchase price - $210,000, with $4000 put in escrow by the sellers for repairsDown payment - 10% / $21,000Closing costs - $5000, about half in closing fee and half in pre-paids (taxes, insurance)Total cash out of pocket - $26,000Renovation costs - $23,000 ($4,000 paid from escrow), for above-mentioned work plus new central A/C and new electrical panel Furniture cost - $8,000.