@Don Clark - I noticed that you mentioned zillow in your op.

If the OP records his agreement, doesn't the original seller still need to deed the property to the OP, so the OP can complete a sale to a new buyer?

If you want a "Property Manager" who strictly collects rent, answers phones, and calls contractors - then your strait commission model is fine.A property management firm that offers additional services (in house engineering/maintenance, construction, leasing, accounting, financial reporting services, etc.) in addition to the basic property management functions mentioned above will more than likely have a fee structure that includes additional fees that are above and beyond the base "management fee".To the OP - Are you surprised to see the fee in general, or do you feel it's an unreasonable/unjustifiable fee period?

Aah, you meant a "better" deal for the OP.

I'm like the OP, I'm in CA for the $.

All due respect to the OP, this has more to do with the State of BP than his plight....

It's important to note that GRM only takes into account the GROSS income so situations where tenants are paying part or all of the operating expenses will be different from those in which the landlord covers all of the op ex.

Hi, I kind of gave up on the idea of house hacking within my area because of a few factors:High prices in NY for not much value in my opinion.Currently like where I am living and am a bit stuck there due to it being a co-op and gf not being able to rent place out for more than 2 years at a time.Then I thought:FHA loan could allow us to buy a higher cost multifamily property (if it makes sense) for very little down, and use a 203k loan to force a bump in equity if done right. 

I'd guess the OP is considering Johnston or Harnett county MH w/ land (just a guess), where rents are more reasonable.

@Lesley ResnickI'll sound a different chorus than @Michael Noto.We have moved from a common laundry room to en-suite laundry in all five our <=6 unit buildings  We are even in negotiations on two larger buildings, one of which has laundry hookups in each unit - I've already negotiated 16 laundry sets for $15K on the anticipation we will close on this building.Our experience with a common laundry room and coin-op machines was:the capital outlay for the machines was 1.5+ times the cost of a high efficiency residential laundry set;landlord carries the utilities and, typically, the coin-op laundry brought in enough revenue to cover its operating costs;vandalism was greater with a common laundry room;convenience to the tenant is lower with a common laundry room.