Recently one of my completed projects on the market was broken into and the staging furniture stolen.

I am part of a new LLC located in Indianapolis, IN and my team and I are getting properties to look at daily and are at the stage where we're ready to buy but we are trying to evaluate the best route for financing.

Depending on your living arrangements, if you can find an inexpensive duplex where you could live in one unit and rent out the other, you'd be well on your way to smoothing out some tax bumps (and minimizing your living costs).

It is normal for a hard money lender (HML) to pay work in stages or "draws".  

.- I just have been working my current employer for the past 3 going on 4 yrs with a 401k less than $5k- My credit score in two categories arrange between 610-650 with the third one being under 600. - I have 30k in school debt, which is the only thing on my credit report.- My DTI is 60.4 at is highest- After talking with a mortgage broker I am looking at the approval of about 100k-120kNow my goal is to purchase a multifamily property that would do at least two things: [1] Pay for itself with me living in one of the units [2] cover all expenses of home and personal.What would be possibly the stronger avenues to explore when getting financed regardless where I by my first multifamily property?

Of course, the estate tax could still be a concern, BUT irrevocable trusts are a great tool for mitigating that risk... but I digress.If/when you get to that stage of your research (which might not be for a while), I'd suggest reaching out to a Qualified Intermediary here on BP (like @Dave Foster, for example) to make sure you get accurate info as it pertains to your specific situation.Whew, ok, that's enough from me.

I feel I'm going to outsource everything, I'm probably better off investing with a REIT or some kind of syndication arrangement.  

I do have to arrange for her belongings to be put on the curb. 

We are very experienced and have never lost money on a deal so our investors feel very comfortable with this arrangement.  

A buyer utilizing this type of contract should be more experienced, have more capital, and have a higher risk tolerance than a buyer executing a contract with a loan contingencyI use the strategy of offering a purchase contract with no loan contingency on most of the property I buy since at this stage of my life I don't utilize borrowed money.