Most hope this is a temporary situation, expecting eventually to have their own spaces for themselves and their families.

Temporary buydowns are best for when the seller is covering all of your closing costs already and you want to use additional funds from the seller. 

A few weeks ago we decreased the list prince by 5%. 

The house I bought this year had ALL the plumbing buried in concrete, including the faucets for the two tubs.I have already had to do temporary repairs to one (DIY $150) and it looks like I'll have to do the other soon.

Most cases with Hard money it is temporary financing with minimal standard guidelines.

Avoid anything with condo association fees or homeowner association fees as they DECREASE CASH FLOW with no real contribution to the bottom line.Lastly, since you are new, when you do get a property DO NOT HIRE A PROPERTY MANAGER.  

I think the main drawback is being on a Prepayment Penalty in a rate decreasing environment.

It is rare that investing money in a property would DECREASE the value, but will this investment increase the value of your property?

I could also wall off half of it to decrease that commercial footprint.  

Near the end of the useful life, there is less value to accelerate, decreasing the benefits of a cost seg.Properties with small purchase price:Cost segregation companies should provide you with a quote so that you can determine if the benefits outweigh the cost.