@John ClarkPurchase: 530kDown: 5% (conventional)Seller credit: 7.5kClosing: 10KRehab: 70k (Cash, no improvement loan)Rough 70k breakdown (high level / bigger ticket items): 25K Labor 10K Landscaping 10K Appliances 3K Staircases spiral 3K Paint 3K Counter tops 2K Gutters 2K Vinyl floor 2K Porch/fence/stepsRemaining 10k include materials from Home Depot/ Menards / Lowes... lots of receipts on my end.

An LLC is a good idea but if you purchase with a conventional loan or many other loan products they will require you to put the property in your name. 

I'm looking for a deal but as usual it has become harder every year with such limited inventory.

We plan to buy/fix/flip single-family homes and build an inventory to keep it growing, but that strategy may change once we know more about the market and what we can realistically do.

. :)The closest to this that now exists, for the cash heavy but income modest, is buying out the PMI upfront on a conventional mortgage, rather than ever making a monthly PMI payment.

@Mel Hayes  Mostly conventional loan lenders won't lend on LLC name.

Guys, thanks for the advice, I’ve read up a lot on the options but what I really wanted was a perspective of an investor because most of the info outside of BP is based on conventional home owners using Refi’s to save money and HELOCS to do home repairs.

I don't want to over-leverage, so I'm considering buying remotely and financing with a conventional loan at 80% LTV.  

For STARTERS we don't know if we should open an LLC together and start to buy properties with private money via LLC OR if we should each get conventional loans independently (tenants in common) with an operating agreement in place.

Again, sorry to go against conventional wisdom but if you have not, flip a few houses before you try to turn around a 20 unit apartment.Second, do some interiors (how many depends on your strategy).