I think the best play is to go conventional at 70% LTV, refi after 1.5-2 years and go CMHC for long term.What are your thoughts?

Going in I knew it was tenant occupied but on a month to month (but paying weekly) and it was a fast close and typically I deal with any inherited tenant situation while still in escrow and have some kind of contingency/agreement in place for that but I bought through a wholesaler this time and it was basically a no contingency deal.

My saving graces are my house is in ideally situated between a downtown area, a college, medical school and a massive Navy Base with a solid rental history (knock on wood).

Otherwise you would be playing a "slow mans game" if you only focused on cash flow.

Sounds like you got a gem, the better play would be to BRRRR and hold it.

sounds like you have a great opportunity. i recommend the contact for deed route. as you mentioned you can get a lower down and more flexible terms. if you can get a 10-12 year ballon payment you should have no problem refi'ing out prior to that with a conventional loan and pay off owner contract. i would try to get the per unit down. you could try to show the total amount you would be paying when you add interest into the equation and see if he will come down on asking price, at least to market if not below. as well as play up the continued cash for with zero management headaches. ultimately if it cashflows well and you have good fixed debt for 10 plus years my experiences has been that price per unit is less of a factor. cash flow is king.

Some things to look out for are the fees. environmental fees, excessive weight fees, another trick of the industry is billing cycles. some will bill monthly so you are billed 12 times a year others may bill every 4 weeks so you get billed 13 times a year (52 weeks/4= 13 bill)based on my experience the big guys tend to play ball and kill on volume to shut out little guys. also these little guys rely on the big guys station to dump, so they charge a base fee and mark it up or put add on to make money.

You need to brainstorm your IDEAL CLIENT in your mind and what attributes they should have.

But I still can't play football worth a darn.

If you got into an owner-occupied multi family you would have an investment property purchased for nothing or practically nothing and would be living for free and ideally cash flowing.