I'm looking to purchase my first property with my fiancé (both 25) with the goal being to establish our primary residence together, as well as giving me the opportunity to add equity/value via rehab before moving on and converting the property into a rental within a year or so to kickstart an investment portfolio.An interesting lead that recently came up is my parent's neighbor's house.

Purchase price: $325,000 Cash invested: $2,485 Sale price: $335,000 Low upfront cost due to creative financing.

How have you handled it when you've purchased a popular existing STR?  

Deduct NEW property taxes after you buyDeduct home insurance costsDeduct maintenance percentage, typically 10%Deduct vacancy+tenant nonperformance percentage(we recommend 5% for Class A, 10% Class B, 20% Class C, good luck with Class D)Deduct whatever dollar/percentage of cashflow you wantNow, what you have left over is the amount for debt service.Enter it into a mortgage calculator, with current interest rate for an investment property, to determine your maximum mortgage amount.Divide the mortgage amount by either 75% or 80%, depending on the required down payment percentage - this is your tentative price to offer.If the property needs repairs, you'll want to deduct 110%-120% of the estimated repairs from this amount.Be sure to also research the ARV and make sure it's 10-20% higher than your tentative purchase price.As long as the ARV checks out, this is the purchase price to offer.It is probably significantly below the asking price.

My first multifamily purchase was my 34th acquisition and my first multifamily syndication was my 103rd acquisition (and wasn't my second multifamily purchase, either).

@Olecia Williams Though it's still possible to purchase a second/vacation home with only 10% down, it may not be your best option. 

I purchased a property in the 77003 zip code which is 1.5 miles from downtown.

Purchase price: $189,000 Cash invested: $40,000 Mid-term rental property in a college town.

@Frankie Lotrec if you have an existing loan on the property and you plan to legally convert from a 4 unit to 5 unit , you should check the loan documents because you’d essentially be converting it to a commercial property, since 5+ units is considered commercial and subject to different appraisal approaches and so it would rule out the property being considered for purchasers utilizing residential financing.  

Additionally, your parents might consider a reverse exchange, where they purchase the replacement property first and then sell the relinquished property.