Since you already have the cash, you can avoid that added cost.Lower Risk: By purchasing outright, you're minimizing your risk and giving yourself time to learn the process without the pressure of loan payments and short-term financing deadlines.Better Refinancing Terms: After you purchase and stabilize the property, you can refinance it with a traditional lender at a lower rate and pull cash out for your next investment.This approach keeps things simple and allows you to focus on learning without the complications of high-interest debt.Let me know if you need more advice!

There's always the traditional sub-metering option if you are going in and doing some extensive work to the property as well but I've found that to be prohibitively expensive on my properties so far. 

Alternatively, inheriting the property and doing an internal buyout (where your wife and you buy out the other heirs) might allow you to bypass some typical closing costs.Renovating and Flipping: If the home is in need of significant repairs, getting an accurate estimate of the renovation costs before making an offer is critical.

I don’t know about the Louisville market, but if you have to pay a bit more for the property than a traditional single family, it should be outweighed by the fact you will have a tenant paying hopefully well over half of the mortgage. 

Depending on the property's location, it could perform very well as a co-living asset (3x of a traditional rental).

Leveraging creative financing methods like hard money loans, private lending, or partnering with investors can also help you secure deals when traditional financing is delayed or limited.

Weigh out the Pro's and Con's between Traditional, Portfolio, and Non/QM like DSCR. 

traditional How did you add value to the deal?

Financing the deal with cash and a loan from your brother helped you avoid traditional loan costs, which likely benefited your margins.One key lesson you’ve pointed out—always buying low and, if possible, getting an inspection is something that can save a lot of time and money.

, and joining a mentorship/mastermind group, I bypassed smaller deals and jumped straight into multifamily investing.