Even if it were possible to wait it out and do a "gotcha" at the end, that's just not how I want to treat anyone. 

Insurance is now a big factor in the expenses of investment properties, even here in Reno, NV there are areas that have had large increases for single and multifamily properties.

If millenial homeowners can't even change their home's air filters, or snake a toilet, or change the oil in their car, that's guaranteed future business for HVAC companies, plumbers, mechanics, and those places all need a place to conduct business in.The commercial mortgage pricing software I use has somewhere around 50 different asset classes in it.

Also, focus on 2 years of job/income stability.Class D Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, all cashflow with little, maybe even negative, relative rent & value appreciationVacancy Est: 20%+ should be used to cover nonpayment, evictions & damages.Tenant Pool: majority will have FICO scores under 560 (almost 30% probability of default), little to no good tradelines, lots of collections & chargeoffs, recent evictions.

This will affect things like required down payment, rates, and even which lending institutions would be willing to finance. i encourage you to look up warrantability for financing just so that you don't have surprisses when your 20% down buyer cannot finance that way.

May even do a JV, so I could bolster up and expand quicker. 

I made a great connection with that property owner and proved the concept since he was unfamiliar and hadn't even heard of rental arbitrage.

Once the loan matures, the interest rate could go even higher and you can actually start losing equity in the deal.

Even with a W2, it's completely doable with the right systems in place. 

If so, you may be able to wholesale the property to someone (perhaps even someone in one of those $400,000 houses) in such a way that you and your grandmother come out whole.