I totally agree @Bryan Devitt .. definitely not paying sticker price.

Hi Eric,If you are talking about your personal tax liability (at the federal level), the formula I use is: NOI-Total Debt Service= Cash Flow; Cash Flow+Principal Payments Added Back (on debt service)-Depreciation=Taxable Income/Loss. 

My long commute for work is totally worth it for me because when I get home I highly value the open space and slower pace. 

If you put 20% down ($20k) and financed the rest ($80k), at 5% for 30 years (Total Interest = $74.6k), if you go the full term, the TOTAL cost to buy your home would be = $174,604.63However, if you buy a home to rent, and you have positive cash flow (this is important), and like above put the same DP of $20k down, with the same interest rate, term, etc..., the TOTAL cost of the this home to you would be = $20,000.Why? 

Other options include:retirements accountsprivate lenders (like your friends and family)personal loansBut refinance would be my first bet as well.

This book totally changed my way of thinking. 

He has two personal homes in LA valued at 45 mil total, idk if that is in the math though.

For reference, the total rental income is ~$3500 and we are fairly flexible in how much we can put down, though less is obviously better for leverage.

I haven't done a refinance yet but I can talk about the closing costs of my first deal (which I bought with a conventional 30 year loan):Underwriting fees: 600Appraisal: 675Title Fees: 1650Recording Fees: 150One year of insurance prepaid: 600Initial Escrow payment: 400So overall, I paid about 4k for closing costs as well, but I bet this also depends from area to area.

Never post on a public forum how much cash you have sitting around.Be prepared for lots of random colleague requests and messages now.The answer to your question totally depends on your goals and risk tolerance.Do you want to buy SFH's or MFR's?