As having acquired 94 deals (and not all of them are profitable), I would know :-)So, I am writing this forum post to share with you my top 5 ways I find good deals even in today's HOT real estate market.

Do a couple of deals with normal timing, pay the lender back, then share the bank owned scenario with them, they might want to partner with you.And in the 17 years of doing business, I have never had a private lender ask for a credit report, an appraisal or an inspection, they did, however, want to see before and after photos and profit and loss sheets of deals I have done (a few of them anyway) Once you build up a reputation of doing deals and using private money, you can get funding fairly easily for regular closings and build a track record with those lenders and they might fund instantly at the courthouse steps

The other 2 STRs have been converted back into long term rentals and although the gross revenue is less, the net profit is pretty darn close.

., if always dealing with retail....will generate a report that is mainly unnecessary.

They will spell out what they need to see in the deal and your personal finances in order to make it happen.If for some reason you dont have the cash reserves the banks like to see to do multifamily, then go do some flips to generate some cash!

Do I need to adjust my expectations of what kind of profit I want for the risk, or am I just way overestimating my costs?

Run a couple scenarios, and if knocking down the house and rebuilding is the most profitable (with an acceptable level of risk), go for it.As for knocking it down yourself, if you have to ask, you probably shouldn't

Don't we lose profit when we keep refinancing to the bank fees?

Found him through a Wheelbarrow profits multifamily podcast he was talking about all the things you are questioning.

you more so need to be willing to put money into what many consider high priced properties to generate high rent and make a return worth while.