A landlord who is not over-leveraged to begin with may simply refinance their loan even when prices go down just to re-amortize the loan and lower the payment to preserve cash-flow.

we are build to rent developers in columbus ohio. we a direct builders for investors around the country. we don't sell on the open market we build from scratch and it's very relationship based. it's very different but I would consider us turnkey. we build at 75% of market value with land and investors can refinance out and do it again and gain approx 100k equity each time. ours is an infill triplex in columbus ohio. that's just my 2 cents. turnkey is deal by deal 

What I'm hoping is to value add and refinance a bit later if/when rates go down.

And once a person get's to a certain size of scale, most do NOT get significant personal $ via cash-flow, it's still all about appreciation because most obtain liquid capital via refinance. 

You don't need to know everything to get started; you need a foundation to build on, and the rest will come through experience and then refining your education.You can build a basic understanding of investing in 3-6 months.

3) can the seller refinance or extend the terms of the contract?

He has bought 3 houses in a 18 months and is building a 10 plex which will net him about $250k in 9 month when he refinances it. 

I've stepped in to help many clients refinance and I'm shocked at how many times the investor doesn't know even the basics of the deal they are in.

@Tom HallAt 7% if you can I would pay it down as investing it net after tax gains may not get you the 7% you are paying - so it’s less riskDownside is you lose liquidity of that money as it’s tied in your propertyIf rates come down in future you can refinance and even take some of the cash out.Regarding your question are rates coming down, a lot of factors come into play but right now it does not appear there will be significant changes to rates over next 3-6 months.

The rehab was complete, and we were ready to refinance when disaster struck—a car crashed into the property the week we were scheduled to refinance.