Maybe the market just isn't there right now OR maybe I have the wrong strategy (searching MLS, craigslist, realtor.com, zillow - find something then contacting my agent)*Our ultimate goal is to reduce our eliminate our current $850 mortgage payment* Multi-family approach:currently pre-approved for 130kfind something around 100k and fix up the essentials leveraging a 203k streamline loanlive in one unit and use the rental income to cover mortgage and expensesmost active duplexes are asking 150-165k with rent being in the $600's per side which would never make sense for us to do numbers wiseSingle Family apporach:same as multi but we want to end up with no more than 75k loan which would leave us with a comfortable mortgage payment (since this would not be an income producing property)seeking forclosures/home path propertiesWould you have another strategy?  

If it was held as a second home for personal use, you can convert it to investment property and eliminate your personal use so that you could qualify for 1031 Exchange treatment in the near future once you have held it as investment property long enough to prove your intent to hold for investment (probably 12 to 24 months depending on which advisor you speak with). 

also consider townhomes is eliminates a host of condo hoops

I'd go conventional 5% down,  so that you can eliminate your PMI at some point.....with the FHA the MIP will be for the life of the loan.  

By using lock box files (or integration with Paylease) with Buildium all that manual data entry is eliminated.  

When you pass away your heir get a step up in basis of the properties so the tax on your gain and depreciation is eliminated for your heirs and they get the properties tax free to begin their own investing journey.

But if I go into this armed with a general understanding of what a good strategy is I could eliminate me asking unneeded question and running up billable hours.

I believe that eliminates me from both an FHA and a 5% conventional loan.

My ping includes a paraphrase of this too: The VA IRRRL sweatshops can eliminate the entire following set of departments, if the entire company is ONLY doing VA IRRRL refinances. 

Originally posted by @Brian Gibbons:@Curt SmithHere is the "Why a ROFR is better than an Option" smart strategy Brian, will this eliminate all responsibilities of repairs and maintenance?