I am leaning towards paying some principle + interest for my student loan each month, but saving for 3.5% down-- living in the house and renting out extra rooms.

I think it is really short-sighted of these communities to deny the fact that there are 71,000 students in the neighborhood, all of which need housing!

The amount you can save on interest over time doing this can be extremely powerful (of course, doing this with a portfolio of 5+ cash flow props will make the process go faster and save you more than with one prop, but the principle is the same).

Restoring them to the architectual intent makes good sense.Financially speaking it goes against a basic principle in real estate - the pieces are worth more sold individually than the entire sum - in other words: buy by the acre, sell by the foot. 

I'm no expert, but the way I see it there are two broad strokes:By paying a big chunk of your mortgage with the HELOC, you reduce the total amount you owe and therefore are paying more towards principle each month with your mortgage payment.The key is by running all your income and expenses through the HELOC, you reduce the daily interest accrual.

My thoughts after doing the walkthrough were, do I keep it the way it is and let my principle owed be paid down by the current renters, and at a later date of maybe 1-3 years tear the house down and build a duplex or possible a triplex. 

Howdy,Does anyone have experience buying properties sight unseen?

I have a great realtor and actually purchased it sight unseen.

@Ahmad H.You will be looking at a value at 90% to Par based on the Unpaid Principle Balance. 

I spent some quality time with my Note Investing mentor at the IMN Conference a few weeks ago.Part of the discussion centered on the institutional non-performing notes being more difficult to source at low levels AND how I’ve been focused on buying upstream for the past year and a half.Put another way, I’ve set my sights on vertical expansion by moving up the food chain.My mentor encouraged me to consider new lines of note opportunities, such as business notes, etc.