The more I learn, the more I understand why a person would want to sell and buy this way:1.)

The programs are created for investors who buy distressed homes, repairing them and then either selling them or holding them for rental income and flipping the hard money loan to a long term DSCR loan where the rents will underwrite the loan.Program availability vary by state.

The plan is to live in the worse off unit regardless of what property we end up buying. 

So you can buy a four flat, live in one unit and rent the other three, but you have to live in one unit on the site. 

For borrowers or investors interested in properties that sellers will not carry or without an assumable loan or accessible reserves, my suggestions would be to try and secure a seller concession towards closings costs or an interest rate buy-down.

I'm not afraid to buy, in fact I hate money sitting in the bank doing nothing for me.

This means that you will probably need to pay registration and filing fees in at least 2 states if you don’t buy CA property as a CA resident.Any lawsuits should be limited to the assets of the LLC and not your personal assets (assuming you run the LLC appropriately and the corporate veil is not pierced, some debate as to SMLLC).

@Jennifer Patton,Have you thought about buying a quadplex?

Pre-construction are the best deals in that you can buy much cheaper if you buy early enough, which gives you a much higher ROI and give you equity from the get-go.

I am a broker helping people buy.