Do you save three months of vacancy for each unit and $50,000 for the roof replacement?

I don't like the returns but we use regular savings accounts. 

Cashflow on a spreadsheet vs. cashflow in real life are very different things, too. 

I currently do not have enough funds to fund a down payment and am trying to find the most efficient way to save.

We plan to stay in this house for more than 5 years unless another great opportunity arises, but maybe it is best to allocate a bigger portion of savings to our real estate investment savings account than our home improvement savings account for the first few years.

I would just make sure you're saving for reserves and expect that first year to be really about learning the house.

The deal will leave the seller at your sons mercy for decades (the life of the loan).

Valuable and soon to be life changing profitability Lessons learned?

Securing funding has been challenging, particularly because my business documents reflect low revenue from only one duplex, and I am currently between jobs.I have identified a reasonably priced piece of land and have saved a small portion of the funds from my duplex sale to invest in this venture.

If the answer is yes, then it's a no brainer to make minimum payments on your 2.8% interest rate mortgage, and use the funds that you would have paid extra to pay it down faster, to either invest in more real estate, the market, or anywhere else where you can get a ROI > 2.8%.If the answer is no, then feel free to aggressively pay it down as fast as possible, to become debt-free faster, and just have a large amount of money in savings or to splurge with.The bottom line is that your 2.8% mortgage is GOOD debt.