You would also be able to hedge your property against an upcoming market drop in the sense that you bought the property undervalued and if you needed to sell quickly, you would have a property that is in good condition potentially compared to other multifamily units.At the end of the day though, you are the only one that can decide what is best for your current situation along with where you see yourself in a few years.Good luck to you!

The cashflow properties in outer San Diego county like Ramona or Alpine seem to not make much sense in either appreciation or COC.

Maybe you have more cash than deals - I have limited funds but would love to learn what it takes if I can find a deal that makes sense to you.

If the deal makes sense and you have a solid exit strategy.It had better be a solid deal though.

Is an 85% LTV common?

I almost at a point where I don't even bother with home inspectors.Some other common issues with older houses, particularly if you will be renting:  lead paint, asbestos, mold (although I find older houses are leaky enough that, as long as the roof drains well, air movement through the building is good and prevents moisture buildup), steep staircases, narrow hallways.But you MUST MUST MUST do a walk-through with an experienced contractor (one who specifically has experience renovating older houses/buildings) prior to placing an offer.  

It makes no sense to put in all this A grade stuff in a say for example C or D neighborhood.

This may be a long post, but I thought it would be good to walk through everything step-by-step, and explain my thinking along the way.If you want to stick with me through it all, here we go:I was not going to be getting a conventional mortgage for my first property for a number of reasons.First, I am still annoyed at the hoops I had to jump through to get a mortgage for my primary residence.Second, my liquid cash was on the lower end.Third, the properties that I would need to start out with would not be financeable anyway.Fourth, my DTI is on the high side, due to the decision that we made to take out a HELOC to complete interior improvements on my primary house.So, I decided that my path was going to be to form a single member LLC, and take a loan from my 401(k) at work to finance the down payment.Since I do not view the 401(k) loan as a long-term solution, I am treating like hard money, and pay it off ASAP.So, my first deal would be a flip, or a rental that was such a good deal, that I could re-fi out and pull all my cash out.I decided to reach out to the commercial lending department of the local credit union, which I am a member.The person I talked to (who became my lender) is fantastic.I told him what types of properties I was looking for, and that I’d look to turn them into rentals, or to flip them.I will never forget his response, which reminded me why I love this credit union.He said:“Typically, the deals you are talking about are much smaller than the deals we like to do.However, we also realize that you can not get to that level unless someone helps you get there.So, if the numbers make sense, we will see if any of our products fit.”Awesome!

If I were already making money, I'd definitely go for it but it doesn't seem to make sense financially right now.  

If so it might make sense of it can help you keep cost down.