Finally, even with a substantial discount, the house may not be worth it.

The seller really put a ton of work into making this property look amazing!

What off-market really means is that the seller refuses to sign an exclusive listing agreement with an agent but tells the agent if they bring them a buyer, they'll payout a commission.

Cash out refi only if the rental income significantly exceeds the monthly payment and you want liquidity to invest elsewhere.2.You can maybe do a HELOC if you want a smaller loan that doesn’t involve refinancing the entire house.3.

The seller will remember you also if anything goes bad with whoever buys it from you. 

And to make things better the seller reached out to you aha.

I know there's seller finance and "B" lender that are good for the short term, but if a balloon payment is due say in 5 years, there's no guarantee that my DTI would be in a better place then I'd be stuck without funding. 

One, you might want to consider Seller Financing (in Michigan, we call it a Land Contract) which can allow you to buy property while using the Seller as Banker; not all Sellers are open to this, but it can be beneficial to both the Buyer and Seller.

@Joshua Christensen wouldn't expenses naturally be less if the seller's just spent about $75,000k on cap ex improvements? 

The sellers you are dealing with in these situations don't deal with prorating Taxes, or any other kind of prorations, that is what an escrow agent does.