As for overseas based investing, @Travis Watts has talked quite a bit about his experience of buying properties on his own then gradually transitioning over to syndication investing.

BUT, if I could potentially get the seller to buy down my interest rate in closing, that could increase my ROI to just over 11% and increase monthly cashflow by ~$45.Thoughts?

However, since we don't have any experience in rentals, we don't know if we should buy a single home and get it rented out or buy a multiplex.

They are hard working people who have made sacrifices to save up money to buy property in order to invest for their future.

Do not buy real estate if you have bad debts.

So if I were in your shoes I would want to be really confident in the exit strategy. 1) confirm rent estimates 2) confirm ARV and the demand in that area to buy a house like that in the price range 3) are there banks willing to refinance at the LTV you want with the seasoning period you have. 40k for a house of that size that needs that work would be the cost of materials alone where we live in WI, so verify your estimates.

I've done my analysis and found a deal that I really like, that has seller financing that balloons in approx 2 years.....cash flow is pretty attractive, but the down payment is around $300k, and I was looking to put d...

If the intent is to flip it, there are two ways people buy houses 1. with borrowed money 2. with their own cash.

I want to buy a 300k property and i have over 300k cash and a company with 7 figures revenue, but cant get a loan anywhere near FHA rates. 

I have 3 ( 1 condo +2 townhome) rental and one primary home (single family ) all in San Diego and for my rental portfolio of buying with my own money i am done.