I am attracted to it for a number of reasons: lower unemployment and vacancy rates than Memphis, and there's quite a few brick buildings that are more modern than that in my budget in Memphis, and definitely cheaper than Nashville by a mile.

I can tell you if you want to make an offer on that house then offer half of what the bank is asking for it.

The way the current house is sited, dividing the property in half in the near future is a definite possibility.  

I choose to split it for a couple of reasons; we were big enough to have some priority with each PM, taking over that many units at once is overwhelming and I felt they would be better equipped to handle half, if one screws up I have a backup, and they know I have another option so they are incentivized to do their best.

Hardly made any money (-30k a year) and still managed to save almost 20k in the first year and a half of marriage. 

I owe a half million dollars, but my debt to income ratio is about 20%.

I am in the same field, and I got into real estate and think it works fairly well with education (if your job has some flexibility like mine)...I can recall spending like a hundred grueling hours fighting over half someone's deposit in the legal aid office and stalling the eviction an extra week or two on  technicalities (a noble cause for sure), but they still, of course, were evicted eventually with no money.

For office I would be wanting a 9 to 10 cap or higher at this point in the cycle. 7 to 8's for that product is overpriced at this time in my view unless rents are at about half of current market.

There are a lot of apartment buildings in the area (within a mile). 

;)I too agree that $15k seems quite high....if it's a negotiation tactic with the seller, then good for you, but I'd guess you could get a quality tear off and new roof for half of that.