I found a person who wants to rent the place (and thanks to BP forums, I used MySmartMove as many people recommended)....they have a 752 credit score, but are carrying a lot of debt, which includes a mortgage although their house is under contract and will close in a week or so.

The seller will carry the loan on that one and all other properties are free and clear.In the end my goal is to retire from the Military and continue investing in rentals.

Hi Carrie.

Ahhh Carrie.

I'm pretty sure if you can afford $4.5 mil, $4,500 isn't a big deal.Still, $265 isn't too bad in terms of carrying costs until you finish the renovations and sell, lots of room to carry it a little while if you don't sell right away.

It has to fit it in the budget, but I imagine if you are contemplating it, you carried for relaxing but you are undecided.

Converted garages carry a stigma and you do not get the true "added" square footage as you also lose a garage.

I haven't considered the FSBO option carrying the financing since we were first considering selling in 2010. 

Or just negotiate for an option to buy that is good for the amount of time it will take you to save up for a down payment. 2) You could bring in a partner and form an LLC to buy that property and many others depending on how many partners you can assemble. 3) You could direct mail market or contact FSBOs for motivated sellers that are either high equity or are in some other position to be likely to carry the note for you (finance you) at zero down with a reasonable monthly payment from you for a certain allotted time frame.

The Seller may need X for something immediately and be open to carrying a chunk on an agreeable time frame.