Once you open up the potential market to the entire country, it's a whoooooole lot to consider as you compare markets against each other.Should you decide to look into Northern California (Sacramento / Stockton) or the Phoenix Metro area let me know and I'll try to get you pointed in the right direction.

It is an unfair comparison if investors are only comparing relative to the 2008-2012 period.

You’re also going to pay a large premium for being month to month compared to similar units on standard leases. 

Does this seem out of line or simply outrageous compared to the size of the loan?

If this were a traditional loan, the lender who would be getting the interest payments, would not be you.

Market seems to be saying your units are economically productive and on par with comparable units as is (based on tenants grabbing them).And, as you know now, that new smell and model home appearance of the totally remodeled and rehabbed unit will fade fast when the tenants treat it like, well, a rental...So you may just end up remodeling again if you sell or get a rough tenant..I tend to do more work on units prior to a sell and let the horses run with a rental with tenants in place that are relatively happy.

Comparing rent to similar homes in the area, you can be looking at anywhere from 675-1000$ per month in rent, depending on location, SQFT, etc.. 

For example some lipstick rehab compared to needs fully updated compared to gut rehab?

My goal (considering TVM principles) to get my money back within 5-10 years and for net present value to be better than selling and putting the cash in a conservative portfolio of stocks/bonds - which would be for me: 25% stocks/65% diversified bonds/10% cash or something of that nature yielding 3-4% after tax.My challenge still.... is the math and comparative analysis with different seller financing structuring. 

It’s all about finding those people and it probably requires looking in non traditional areas.