Do honest math on a purchase and you'll see.The benefits of real estate are... all of them together. 

Understanding the tax benefits of pre-tax contributions, cost recovery, real estate professional status, legacy goals, etc are all part of the equation and should be considered. 

My goal is to offer an affordable monthly payment that competes with renting a comparable property and offers a benefit to paying a bit more to "own". 

Also, I have heard about the benefits of having an LLC set up to manage rental properties but not sure if this is advisable at my stage (e.g., not a lot of properties to manage).

Truthfully, I am not that big on coaching programs BUT, I can understand the benefits of having someone in your corner teaching and coaching you on the ins and outs of real estate investing every week. 

And I feel the ideal portfolio can benefit from the diversification of both.I feel directly owned properties are great because they give me maximum control and the ability to tweak them exactly how I want.

However, I'm drawn to the long-term benefits of multifamily properties.

One of the side benefits is that I can avoid the whole draw/inspection process (not overall inspection, just the ones tied to the draws) and don't have to worry about draw fees.

Seller will be taking a 30k+ loss with this route.325k with 50K down to seller, 3 years of payments $1600/month, and a balloon payment of 215k at the end of 3 years.Benefits to me: (1) 10k less downpayment, (2) with the conventional route, the loan would be at 228k after 3 years of payments, so I will gain additional equity with the 2nd option since I will owe 215k (presumably I will have to refinance at that time).Benefit to seller: she gets over asking price, 50K upfront and $300/month of cash flow.Does this offer and structure sound reasonable?

That’s why I try so hard to explain to people I meet every day the benefits.