I am expecting to do 3-4 deals per year until I get to 20 properties or so and then snowball the debt so they are all paid off by retirement. 

If the property can service the debt at 90% leverage between a senior 1st and the seller second, you're looking at a good investment!

Or do they leverage debt, and use the subsidies to cover the equity needed?

I used $80k to pay off personal debts and $50k to remodel it by myself with my two hands.

I even included that in my "Debt Strategies" presentation that I give at local events.

I have purchased the following books:ABCs of Buying Rental Property The ABCs of Property Management The ABCs of Real Estate Investing The Advanced Guide to Real Estate InvestingThe Book on Investing in Real Estate wit...

I frequently see where one party is awarded the property and debt and is mandated to sell or refinance it within a certain timeframe to have the other party removed from the note/mortgage.

This also leaves me with $3,750 stuck in the deal (not including financing and closing costs, which could easily add another $20,000).In total, if I had to include closing costs and financing costs, I’d have about $23,000 (if not more) tied up in the deal and lose close to $700/month before accounting for expenses.

This makes targeting distressed sellers, such as those in pre-foreclosure, or those with ballooning debt that was taken out in 2020-2021 when the interest rate was 7.37x lower (8/09/2020 the 10-year treasury was .56%, 1/15/2024 the 10-year treasury is 4.69%) making it very difficult for those that underwrote the property in 2020 to have predicted refinancing at these rates and likely a sale is their only option.

Does that include utility service to the house, a driveway, septic and well?