You could ultimately use this equity for money down on more buildings in either  Caribou or Presque Isle area where you wouldn't have to worry about vacancies as much, could be a little more selective on what you're purchasing, and be in a position to jump at any opportunities that may arise.  

I've also seen this problem arise when the seller or previous owner reverted the property to an owner-occupied property for homestead tax treatment due to hardship. 

The burden of proof for this falls on the property owner, not the City, and the City can choose to except or deny your proof, should an issue arise.   

I am good either way from a capital and cashflow side, i was not sure if you just take those opportunities when the arise.@Al

Currently looking at single family, and multi, though we would love multi if the opportunity arises.

Have the knowledge, and be able to act confidently and quickly when/if trouble arises. :-)

He is a hard money lender who touts being able to find hard money within 48 hrs if the need arises. 

For my residential property, I am taking care of deferred maintenance now while the money is still coming in, then plan on switching to LTR as the need arises if business drops off.While residential real estate has become heavily securitized over the past 10 years, I still see it as a commodity (at least in my market which has very little class A, and mostly class C with plenty of B).

One of the reasons I gravitated toward a larger multi was to consolidate issues that arise into one place with one manager.

They can crunch numbers and make logical decisions pretty well, but their knowledge on risk management, the contract, and covering their own backside is usually pretty terrible, especially when it comes to technically tricky issues and problems arising within an escrow.Now, granted this may be 100x bigger of an issue in my highly litigious state compared to yours, but I still think it's important wherever you go.Additionally, getting rid of your "middleman" might sound appealing, but - assuming you have a sharp agent - it's often about as smart as getting rid of your attorney and representing yourself in a lawsuit, or performing a surgery on yourself.