I am also a realtor and there are some nice little tricks you can leverage with your license, so definitely be creative with it all. 

-If I don't execute my option, home will go back to current owner who can then sell at market value, and I had some nice cash flow for a few years.Questions-Should I offer a purchase deposit upfront, or roll it into the monthly rent?

@Elizabeth Zielinski nice to meet you and one thing I would say is to look over their lease and inform them at the end of the current one they will be rescreened if they have had issues in the past and a new updated lease with verbiage specific to your company would be coming. 

You can see in just a few years how the VA property can easily be a bigger boost to your net worth than the Memphis properties.Now realize that even with a PM the scaling of the number of units implies more work and effort.  3 units is unlikely not to be more work than 1 unit (assuming similar asset class - Class not lower than C+; I only recommend expert in slums try the D+ and below rental units).I would not choose the historically low appreciation markets but if I did it would only be for MF+.  100 units at $200/month cash flow can be significant even if the cash flow only increases at the rate of inflation; this likely provides a very nice life but probably not financial freedom especially if you are living in San Diego.  500 units with that cash flow most people would have financial freedom. 

Oh nice!

The following is an excerpt from Andrew's original post...WHICHEVER IS THE LOWER AMOUNT (super important)I understand the caution in all this, but entertain a scenario..I'm having a very difficult time passing up cash-only deals based solely off the knowledge that the ARV really isn't going to go anywhere due to the home being livable/only needing cosmetic upgrades/being sandwiched in between 2 or 3 other units of a multiplex...I say again I'm having a hard time forgetting these deals because they would cash-flow nicely and are affordable.

Nice to meet you and thanks for reaching out!

If you decide to replace it, you may want to consider vinyl, the new solid core stuff is nice.

The nice part is that I need $27K down payment for the $135K property and $22.4K for the $112K property which I will use the line of credit to pay for.

Yea, A nice round $2000 bill seems like a made up number.