Yes it is not ideal, and I am happy and would greatly welcome better assistance.

So, if the numbers make sense to you, you need a home to live in, you can afford it no matter what the market does, it offsets what you might currently be spending on rent, or any other such factors, this could be an ideal time for you, personally, to buy.  

My ideal situation is to enter into a house hacking type of strategy.

The only true way to find the actual value of a property is to have a willing and knowledgable seller and buyer agree to close on a property.A lot of people here sound like owners I deal with that think their property is something pretty special - Like 20% above market value special.If you don't like an appraisal, go to the lender and make your case on why. 

If you advertised "Ideally I would like $1600 per month, but call me and tell me how much you can afford and we can work something out..." it would be a closer analogy and I think it could be a potential problem.  

I think the most important point I got from both of you is to not use "ideal" rents but the existing ones.

It seems to me that a hotel in the middle of or just about to start a PIP could be ideal.

Ideally, right after we get tenants in it.

@Jay Hinrichs We also reached out to our private lender to see if he will restructure the original financing, so thank you for that tip -- carrying 13.5% at the moment, not ideal but with no points and no track record and a minimal rehab, we thought we would be golden.

I'm ideally looking for something within an hour of Boston - areas I'm most comfortable with would include Framingham, Worcester, Haverhill, Attleboro, Salem, and Providence.