Just crunch the numbers and let them help you decide.

This may be a silly question but since I've been crunching the numbers on this offer it's been on my mind. 

This time I'm looking with my partner to buy multi unit but we're going to really crunch numbers and do diligent work before buying.

It seems like the cities I listed had the best metrics and could withstand the upcoming housing crunch more than others.

This would give you the flexibility of dropping your payments down from a 15yr mortgage payment to a 30yr payment if you got into a cash flow crunch.

I've been looking at properties and crunching numbers for the past 8 months but haven't found that sweet spot neighborhood yet.

It is a seller's market though and you might try the FSBO approach first if you feel confident with the process.I'm afraid all you can do is "crunch the numbers" and figure out what works best for you but do make sure you're working with the right numbers!

When you crunch your numbers, be sure to consider the fact that if you 100% finance, your cash flows will be slightly less due to the slightly higher debt service, but obviously ROI should be strong because you have little to on money tied up in the property.  

How about this (you'll have to do much more in depth number crunching).

@Gerardo Waisbaum Personally, I am buying STRs with a 20% minimum COC but I also crunch the numbers on them to see if they will cashflow as a LTR as well.