@Sara Schiman,I am in the midst of using Real Estate Express and am very pleased.  

Should I do conventional financing through my credit union at 4.5% with 20% down to leave the option open in case I choose to rent it out for a while, or explore the option of seller financing and keep this a short term flip move(the seller has expressed interest in being the bank on this)?  

If you paid all cash your COC is not very strong.Google definition:In investing, the cash-on-cash return is the ratio of annual before-tax cash flow to the total amount of cash invested, expressed as a percentage.

@Jared Viernes This property is being advertised by a realtor so is it adventagious for me to go directly to the owner or can I be just as effective in expressing interest by contacting the realtor?

This is when my sister, who lives in Florida expressed interest in the house.  

According to the seller both tenants expressed they want to remain 

Real estate express is a good one

We're not expecting anything in the 5 boroughs and that's why we're going west, as the expression goes :)

I have equity I want to cash out of one of mine because I know the ROE is decreasing and cashing out could allow me to buy more property but I hesitate for the same fears you are expressing.

I use google adwords express to drive traffic to my website.