Our goal for this year is to secure at least one property, with a stretch goal to acquire 3 (giving us more of an opportunity to learn the market, network, etc). 

Leveraging financing was key for me to quickly amass properties and stretch the cash I was able to invest. 

Can you go to a slightly worse location to stretch your dollars further, and perhaps into a multifamily unit?

(but at the prices you mentioned, it seems as if anyone can just show up and pay cash so this might be a stretch)  Any who... here's the kicker...

though, i always calc the cap rate myself because some listing agents have no idea what they are doing. word of advice, don't stretch to find a deal that doesn't fit your objectives.  

You could then stretch beyond the local area!

I like the notion of owner financing (if paid for and Wayne's Dodd Frank comment) and I have had some success owner financing a condo before, and it gets an owner occupant in there to help ratio and gets title out of your name; also, you could (again more likely if paid for) explore donating four units to a nonprofit somehow and getting a tax break, perhaps one involved with affordable housing or an agency that may need to house workers; finally, a long shot, but the swing for the fences stretch would be to just buy 24 more and convert them back to apartments or renovate/redevelop the place as more successful condos--study that one alot first, though (a long shot, but owning 11 is pretty extreme already, almost 1/3 there now!)...

That is such a stretch if they haven't even been inside them, or done much research. 

Although legal zoom lets you have payments on your cost and stretch it out over three months

I never thought about flipping cuz I wouldn't consider myself handy in any stretch of the imagination and that's extremely hard to get into cuz contractors are buying properties worth it here within hrs of it being listed