to give you some idea of my experience.Any ideas on this one I would love to hear. 

On paper the cheap houses look great, but the reality is they are harder to manage, have higher turn over and cost a lot more time and money.Buying before you retire is a good idea because once you retire, your ability to borrow money is going to decrease as you don't have a regular income from a job.As you want to fix houses up, why not buy a house that needs a bit of work, live in it while doing the renos and then move when you sell it. 

Some ideas I've considered:Equity Buyout: Having another investor or my partner buy out my 40% equity.Seller Financing: Selling my equity and offering seller financing to the buyer.Selling the Property: Liquidating the property entirely and splitting the proceeds.Does anyone have experience with situations like this?

The appraisal was the longest hold up but the junior loan officer we were assigned seems to have zero idea what he is doing and zero sense of urgency...

Lets say the idea of higher mortgage and more debt pulls you back from making a move.

I'm not trying to discourage you from investing, I think it is a great idea.

At that time, my friend encouraged me to get into real estate with the idea of creating passive income and wealth in future (via appreciation).

While I have a rough idea on house hacking as a whole, I would like to know if there are some helpful insights on the Utah market specifically.

Low risk investments sell at a premium, that's the whole idea of cap rates.

Or any ideas of where I might be able to sell this unit would be super helpful.