You paid the property owner $40,000 in rent.  

Too bad you can't buy something owner-occupied, put 5% down with the best interest rate, live in it for 12 months (and fix it up), rent it out and repeat the cycle.Here's some other info you might find useful:----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend 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?

What I am trying to better understand is at what pointy that restaurant owner able to either delegate or reposition so he / she doesn’t have to the restaurant every day. do they need to obtain more restaurants or keep offering more to their current customers?

Can anyone recommend sources for contact information for property owners?

Call the mechanic or gas station up the street and ask the owners if they know someone.

Some types of Creative Financing include: Seller/Owner Financing, Land Contract, Wrap, Assumption, Subto, Lease Option, Contract for Deed.

I do appreciate you taking the time to respond regardless.The IRS specifically calls out owner distance from rental and having a property manager as a red flag that owner isn't materially participating.

By doing this we qualified for a larger mortgage because we could use the rent from the other tenant to qualify and there are better lending programs when it’s “owner occupied”.  

@Chris Seveney What is their name, and what types of owners/realtors have they called for you?

Hi, I am the owner of DealMachine.