That is $1000 a year in expenses that wont show up for 5 years. 

We can structure in such a way that his services will be his contribution to the project, hence sales tax wont be necessary.- I am from Washington, so buy supplies in neighboring Oregon that don't have sales  tax.

But Vacation rentals will only get better, even with the new laws coming, wont affect you in that project. 

With focus and determination there is no reason why you wont achieve your goals.

Hi Lindsey,If you're from long beach and this property is in Minneapolis then it will have to be non owner occupied.If you take it on with private or hard money you might be able to buy it below market, repair, then refinance it out with a conventional loan after but make sure your loan payoff will be at 75% LTV or lower so that you wont have to bring in any extra cash to pay down the loan to 75% LTV.Max LTV for fourplex is 75% for rate term refinance no matter if its primary residence or non owner occupied.FHA will not be an option in 99.9% of cases since you'll have to prove occupancy and being over 2000 miles away won't exactly help unless you're a pilot and you fly in and out of LAX or LBX into Minneapolis, MN every other day and can prove you'll be living there the predominant portion of the year along with many other FHA requirements like self sufficiency rule, 3 months reserves PITIA, and etc.If you have any additional questions 

(wont let me vote on your post for some reason?  

Just realized I linked the 4 ton unit....you wont need anything that big.

My 2 cents worth.Get a fan rated for at LEAST twice the cfm's based on square foot,,,three times wont hurt. 

You probably wont qualify for a HML.Most want at least 20% down, 6-8 months of interest reserves in the bank, and you to front the rehab.  

It's one of the reasons I disclose that I am working for them, and wont dual agent on them.