@Andrew McCotterAgree with Joe but I’ll state it in terms of ROE because I look at number *and* percentages ;-)Take the formula for ROE:Return on Equity = Net Cash Flow/Total Equity InvestedFinancing will reduce your net cash flow by the amount of debt service which decreases ROE.

Has the price been reduced?

It may help you remove/reduce some of the risk you associate with private lending. 

Would it work to require a higher security deposit to reduce the risk?

Yup get pre-approved and work on all the aspects of the loan upfront to reduce the lead time to close the loan. 

Here’s why:1) Risk Reduction - for a typically small cost in terms of time and money you can gain a ton of context about an area and the surrounding areas that will help you to reduce the risk of getting into a poor investment2) Relationships - you can leverage your time there to meet with local market participants like property managers, brokers, other investors, contractors, potential tenants etc.3) Business expenses - you should be able to deduct the cost of the trip as a business expense4) Context / Perspective - you simply get better context and perspective by being there is personI don’t mean to say that you can’t do OK by investing remotely but I am 100% certain that you will get outsized benefits from visiting your assets periodically and definitely initially.When I invest in multifamily deals I always visit the area, the comps and the asset itself, this takes time but because we buy 100’s of units at a time it is an efficient use of time.I’d also be wary of anyone who isn’t personally invested in a deal alongside you telling you that you don’t need to visit, particularly if they get compensated by you making a transaction.Investing out of state allows us to find the best returns but don’t be mistaken into thinking that you shouldn’t plan on spending time in your target market.

Using "the big hammer" helps train tenants to pay the rent on time.For low price rentals ($400/$450) which we just recently acquired, we reduce the late fee to $40 and $5 per day.

Our income had to show on two years tax returns before it would count and it's drastically reduced based on Fannie Mae calculations.

Lower our total tax burden by reducing our end-transaction profit on each flip (assuming taxes are not paid on credit line "income").  

A quitclaim deed won't help you reduce the costs.