I'm looking at a 3 family building, older home which was converted many years ago.

They also may want the property to season for a period of time, meaning they will only lend after 3,6,9,12 months have passed from when you purchased it.

@Ethan G.I have removed 30yr old water heaters that were still working fine, but as a rule of thumb, we replace anything older than 10 - 12yrs.    

We are replacing older top loading Speed Queen washers with front loading ones and always trusted the reliability, dependability and quality of Speed Queen but they must have changed something in circuitry boards. 

You may still decide to put down 20% but opportunities may present themselves prior to having the 20% saved.Regarding the strategy to target vacation rentals:  Make sure you research the vacancy rate during off seasons.  

There may be some seasoning required (6-12mths)  before you can do a cash out refinance. 

This house is from the 60's and although the foundation is fine, the house does have some seasonal movement.

A gentleman(the only one) put it a bid for one property.

Its better to let it "season" for 6-12 months before you try to sell it, as you will get more than a fresh one.

I've been looking at a lot of multi family buildings here in NH, and since many of them are older homes that have been converted into apartments (2-4 units), many of which have common heating systems, so the rent includes heat.With a background in (commercial) energy management and utility billing systems, these seem like they can be good opportunities for me to go in, lower rent and recover utility costs (subject to existing leases of course).