You see, if you negotiate a package price, then you have nowhere to go when you’re done; but if you negotiate individual purchase prices, then you can always come back and ask for a discount if you take the entire package.Second, you need to know real values by using the comparable sales method and income methods to value the real estate.

Then... compare that to a hotel nearby. 

I've supplied all you need in the prior post.Good Luck!

I am asking this because a Bank I contacted told me that they won't typically work with someone who does not have any prior experience building  multifamily and suggested that I consider purchasing an existing property instead.How else would you gain experience?

I met with the tenants two weeks prior to end of lease. 

We would then use that 20k as a down payment FHA on a multifamily, house hack one unit, rent out the other three, and rent out the condo.Based on prior estimates from a RE agent, we could rent our condo for anywhere from 1.3k to 1.5k a month. 

Is ti abnormally high compared to market rents?

So just run numbers all over the place and compare what you find and use that as the basis for your decision.I'm in LA and have always invested out-of-state for the cash flow reason.

What do you see people doing differently today (This year) compared to what they were doing last year?

You can contact him directly and try to work out some sort of deal to get the lien released prior to close, but if he knows you're going to close he has little incentive to cooperate and it sounds like he knows the game better than you do.