If your horizon is 10 years or less then you might as well go to Vegas and bet on black because you could win or lose.

You need to sort out all of your outlays up front, as time 0, then run a model to the expected horizon, annually, +5 years.

That being said you didn’t mention what kind of money you’re throwing behind your goal. 5 years is a short time horizon.

We (the partnership) have yet to buy a property and realize income but it is certainly on the horizon. 

But to the question at hand when the real estate market get hot like 2004-2006 every house will see crazy appreciation regardless of area so buy the investments if your time horizon is 5+ years.

Each step you take reveals a new horizon.

Yes, I'm targeting appreciation and rent increase over 15-30 years horizon, and you confirmed my strategy for A-class.

Because over a long enough horizon, the value of real estate always goes up. 

I work with a few great title companies as of right now but I'm looking to maybe expand my horizons.

I'll try to clarify a little:While the idea for this situation stemmed from my thinking about a real potential deal on the horizon, the scenario I proposed was an exercise for my brain trying to utilize the selling of a note as a tool in structuring a creative financing deal.