Typically needs 20% down, but offers lower rates and you can ditch the PMI (private mortgage insurance) once you reach 20% equity.

I am doing my best to accommodate and fix the insulation as well as see if there are programs in place to lower the cost. however i want to be firm with tenant as they are not compliant with paying rent because of the cost of the utilities.

In addition, due to them being eligible for conventional non-commercial financing they typically have lower cap rate than 5 units and more.  

A lot of local banks tend to have 1-3 year intro periods of lower interest rates for HELOCs, check with some yours. 

And this interest rate spread, say between 4.5 and 7.5, is of such impact that at 4.5 we can afford to over-pay on purchase price a bit vs market price AND we still come out ahead with significantly lower monthly servicing payments than we would have had a 7.5 and a lower price. 

For further context, we are trying to have him be the name on the loan because he would be able to utilize his first time home buyer loan to take advantage of the lowered offered interest rate.

The lower barrier to entry would be excellent for my personally smaller net worth.

I had one investment in a syndication that would have been a total loss however the sponsor made good and repaid principal . so 3 year no return.. which is just fine by me personally I am not one who goes crazy if the return is lower or does not happen to me its principal i care about.. 

It is typically lower than cash-on-cash and you can put it somewhere around 6% conservatively.

No guaranteed way to stop a determined, experienced thief:(Only deterrents that push them to easier jobs.The roof may be a good idea - until they figure out the just need a ladder to get up there and a rope to lower it down.