Re fi's are expensive so I waited until I had a few years in them to justify the cost.

Originally posted by @Benjamin F.:I

Using owner fi to get in the deal without much down won't help you unless it's a screaming good deal.

This does not apply, since it is a duplex, but if you ever analyze 3 or 4 units with FHA, you will need to be able to cover the self sufficiency rule ... here is a spreadsheet to help with that:https://www.biggerpockets.com/files/user/logdog/fi...As for this property, just because the seller is willing to accept FHA, that does not necessarily mean that you will be able to close with FHA, especially if there is differed maintenance.

So, @Joe Villeneuve, when an owner goes to re-fi a low value property, as in Scenario #2, what does the solution look like?

At the very least, it might be nice to keep each other accountable on our FI/RE and real estate investment journey. 

Now my focus is helping new investors like yourself build a path to FI.

I would then re-fi after the year and get them off the loan.

When the project is completed, the value of the property will essentially double (I have Leases already in place for when the project is finished that are 71% higher than my current rents) and it is going to allow me to have a reasonable opportunity to hit my 4-5 year real estate goal (more on that when the time is right) because my plan is to re-fi this fall out once completed and stabilized (basically BRRRR on a larger scale). 

Originally posted by @Bettina F.:I