Hope this helped, happy to connect further!

That's a monthly payment of $1775 (which is pretty close to his current rent payment).

They both have low property rates and are close by and more landlord friendly than CA. 

I would suggest just that, house hack a 4plex for cash flow, and save for your second creative finance deal and grow from there.The idea here is you should be paying zero for your roof (or close to) before buying a second property.

For example I had my GC purchase paint, countertops, and flooring using his connections who worked at those locations to get a discount.

I was recently contacted by a wholesale connect of mine who pitched a Duplex to me.

Have you tried connecting with investor groups locally?

Is this even close to the norm?  

BUT, if I could potentially get the seller to buy down my interest rate in closing, that could increase my ROI to just over 11% and increase monthly cashflow by ~$45.Thoughts?

Tenant shall have abandoned or surrendered the Premises if any of the following events occur and if Tenant’s personal belongings have been substantially removed, and Tenant does not appear to be living in the Premises in Agent’s reasonable judgment :Tenant’s move out or notice to vacate date has passed; Tenant is in default for non‐payment of rent for 5 consecutive days; water, gas, electric, or any other service for the Premises connected in Tenant’s name has been terminated or disconnected; Agent is in the process of judicially evicting Tenant for any reason; and Tenant fails to respond for 2 consecutive days to any notice posted on the inside of the main entry door to the Premises stating that Agent considers Tenant to have abandoned.