While off market deals may be your ideal scenario in securing an investment - lets discuss ways in which i can also possibly make that happen for you. 

Hi @Andrew Sargent, how is your investment doing so far? 

My goal is to find a property that suits her needs while also serving as a strong long-term investment.

Our mortgage agent suggested to buy as an investment and then refinance, but is not a good idea since we cannot take cash out (we don't have enough for the 25%).We thought of sending an offer contingent on one of the units being vacant, but the seller doesn't want to put that into written. 

Where do you ideally want to live/invest?

I do typically pick up at least a few clients each year who have use 1800Accountants in the past. 

A balanced market is typically around 6 months of inventory, so a lower number represents a seller's market with limited inventory.

If your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is over $150,000, you typically can’t use rental losses to offset W2 income.But you can still use depreciation to offset the rental income itself.

I am new to the real estate investing and I am having a hard time with hard money lenders to lend money. 

Quote from @Brett Storey: I am a newbie ready to start learning and investing so I have started my journey here.