When you have a chance, write down what kind of property you want, where you want it, etc.

If you follow the BRRRR strategy and the project is really successful you have a chance of refinancing the property where you have no cash left in the deal.  

(I did sell the Duplex off-market - but there the buyers did most of the work and I basically just had the attorney review everything)Before I approach the ownership,  I'd like the chance though to talk with somebody who has gone through this process for small commercial scale multifamily properties (5-12 units) on their own.   

We met the sellers son by chance & did some research.

We figured we’d need to save for quite awhile to get our first property, but were still driving for dollars, running numbers, going to tax auctions etc. to see if we could find anything we had a chance of getting.

I didn't want to give him the chance to sue me for slander or something.As an SEO expert, I'm telling you that a post of 150+ words with that Title, including city, state and phone number, will get ranked on page one of Google pretty fast so that any time somebody searches for "Joe Blow review" or something similar, it will probably be on page one.I waited a few days and made sure that it was ranking on the first page of Google.Next, I wrote him a letter covering everything below and FedEx'd it because EVERYONE opens a letter from FedEx.In it, I told him to search for "Joe Blow review".

With slippery surfaces like wood you may have a tenant slip and fall, with hard surfaces the chance of breaking bones is higher. 

The ones that are well capitalized have a much higher chance of success.

Also, there is a good chance, my fiance and I won't be living in DC in a few years since both of our jobs are taking us abroad.

It may be a waste of time contacting them all and find out who owned it but in my case when I did the cold call, I still contact those numbers even if it's 90% chance that it's a wrong number so I can have the chance to tell them if they have homes they need to sell, I received some people responding to me wrong numbers, and I create this quick text for wrong numbers, and some replies to me that they have property to sell soon or they know someone like a relative or in laws that needs to sell.