You can also offer to lease with an option to buy to tie up the property until you are ready to purchase. 

And what type are looking to buy, SF, 2-4 MF, or 5+ MF? 

I can say that with Phoenix, a multitude of opportunities can be in store for you if you invest in their market, network, or even just want to get familiar with it.What type of real estate are you into: fix & flips, buy & hold, multi-family, or something else?

So does that mean I can't buy from a related party at all?? 

What would I need to do to structure the note in order to have a note buyer come in and buy the note or buy a partial enough to pay off the 215k at closing and still have some difference coming to me or the note revert back to me after the partial was paid for. 

You can offer to buy the upstairs residents an area rug, but I wouldn't force it on them.   

Generally buying in nicer areas leads to better experiences and confidence in your investing, but lower cash flow when you move out.

Is there a buy out plan?

@Christopher HeidrichRecommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

Subsequently I ended up buying property in 8 states, and a couple weeks ago bought 5 properties in 5 days in 3 states.