Will I get dinged on the appraisal enough to make it worth changing the furnace ahead of time?

The terms of the financing (interest rate, balloon payment timing) need to make sense for your exit strategy.I would recommend getting a detailed inspection to ensure there aren't any major issues you're overlooking.

(This allows us time to raise rents plus appreciation over 5 years to then do a portfolio refinance to pay back the line of credit). 

Plenty of times $ are not in the contract...so when you agree with the seller for sale of $300,000, they think that is what they are netting, when there could be charges of title insurance, surveys, lender required repairs, prorated taxes, escrow fees, etc. 

On the plus side, if the property cash flows with a DSCR loan, when it comes time to refinance time with a lower rate it will improve on cash flow lol. 

So the question is going to be where you think rates will be in 5 years and if it will warrant a refinance at the time. 

There will be no perfect market at a perfect time, EVER.

You are doing what you can and in a reasonable time.

She does investor bus tours in Detroit all the time and has a lot of relationships there even though she lives in Cali.

**Due-on-Sale Clause**: The existing lender could call the loan due when the property transfers ownership, though this isn’t common if payments are made on time.2.