For pure unadulterated BS these 3 take the cake, Seemingly educated (and even some smart) people fell for their line completely.8.

My question comes from underwriting purely. 

Without a track record and no assets it is pure risk for him and possibly an expensive learning process for you.IMO you should start with owner occ financing, move into the house you want to flip but take a little time to do it.

You guys plan to get there purely with real estate or other small businesses?

I agree with your analysis except the 10% cap rate, this property fully leased would deserve closer to a 7% cap rate given it's location (median incomes are around the $100k mark) - so accordingly, it should be worth around $222k purely as an investment but as I stated the value of this property to an owner occupant is $330k with some cosmetic improvements.The taxes are definitely a problem but that is where unlocking the value comes in.

As of right now I'm going to keep my market purely limited to the Phoenix metro area so that I can spend time learning my grounds.

They are both valid strategies depending on your goals and risk tolerance.That said, from a *purely* financial perspective, leverage (when done right) will provide more cash flow, more net profit and higher ROI than all-cash purchases will.

I'm fortunate enough to have my wife working with me, and, once your partner's "crossed-over" to your point of view, it can be pure magic :)

I don't think you can base it purely on roi or anything since Roi vary across the country and it would be hard for others to say what is good in your market.

I don't know if it ever was, or was purely a NYC phenomena.