I can't afford to pay off the 500K myself and either can the tenant for a downpayment. 

We know we'd still have to pay for the solar, but it'd be nice to get a two-for-one and pay over time rather than all at once. 

I have a place in Little Rock that I pay $1220 a month for the mortgage, and I still owe 25 years on it.

You buy  the property paying $200k down.  

We discovered the issue after they moved out.Insurance was only able to pay out $5k. 

The teaser rents will likely reset to unadvertised rents higher than what he is currently paying, which is the point of the discount, to get someone moved in and adjust them to a much higher rent down the road.He's going to be a pain at renewal.

I definitely wouldn't go high end, but I would pay a bit more for solid cabinets.

You posted the raw data, just go one layer deeper to get to % returns to confirm your purchase price in relation to your expected return/profit/cashflow:$5,500 + $3,000 = $8,500/mo or $102k/yr GOI (gross annual rent collected)Knock off 25% for expenses and you are at $71k/yr or $5.9k/mo NOI on this $1.05M investment or holding this at a 6.8% cap rateWith your 7%, 75% LTV loan, you'd be paying $5k/mo for the loan, leaving you with $900/mo or $10.8k/yr in Cashflow.Now to determine your CoC return (Cash-on-Cash), take the $10.8k in CF and divide it by your equity-in, likely ~$300k, so 3.6% return on your cash/equity in this deal.

The benefit of the outskirts of town: easier to find new place to build, land is cheaper, still in the path of gentrification and appreciation due to proximity to SLC market, no HOA to deal with, much less permitting and red tape, and these lead to new builds, which has the benefits of maximizing costseg and minimizing maintenance and repairs because the build is brand new.Happy to discuss by videoconference if you want, and I can pay you for your time. 

I have an inherited tenant that I was putting up with because although her rent was always late... she did pay and I wanted to avoid the turn cost and headache of getting her out.