That occupancy difference will likely lead to lower ADR and/or lower occupancy rate, affecting ROI potentially.

You could do that for 3-5% down.. live in it for a year to meet typical requirements for use… then move into a new house, and ‘voila’ - you bought your second (multi-family) rental for 3-5% down instead of 20-25%.It is entirely possible though that you will face debt to income issues on your first rental if your lender wants to see a year or twos worth of rental history before counting your rental income to offset your debt payments…so beware of that.Otherwise you may have to look at creative financing… maybe bringing in a money person where it was a short term investment for them, like “I’ll give you 8% on your money (versus the 4-5,% you could earn from the bank CD) if you will partner with me on this purchase.”

This usually results in the borrower just doing a rate and term refinance or cashing out on the low end.

With mortgage rates being so high, we'd like to do an all-cash purchase in a house with a good balance between cash flow and appreciation.

You will probably be a little negative on cash flow unless you rent by the room or buy the interest rate down or both, but honestly a little negative on cash flow isn't a big deal if you still have most of your cash in the bank since you only put 5% down. 

Meeting potential tenants in person can give you a better sense of their character and reliability.

While it’s beneficial that the buses are fare-free, job opportunities in Worcester are dwindling due to the dual tax rate on commercial property.For Worcester to thrive, it’s crucial to develop a balanced ecosystem where residents can live, work, and shop locally.

.- Interest Rate: 6% interest only for a term of 5 to 10 years- Prepayment Penalty: 2% if the loan is paid within the first 3 years- Equity Upside: Investor receives 30% equity of the appreciationWhich option do you think is more attractive and why?

With a few month's before some note's expire they send notice unto their regional lender inviting lender into a negotiation of consideration because there intentions are if a mitigated arrangement can not be meet, with market rate offerings on debt not tenable, there going to walk away and exercise strategic default. 

@Tatyana Sherban Considerations are speed, imterest rate and other terms, hassle and complexty of getting loan, and in some cases probablity of getting loan.