I saw the for sale by owner sign in front of the house, called the owner and got some answers to some standard property info posters suggest.  

Complete a standard PSA, do the 'or assigns' and line-out and initial the part in the contract that says you can't assign.  

If the banks can earn a greater spread on their assets they will be able to loosen their lending standards which would be positive for home prices.

Long story short I negotiated a no money down land contract on it at $35k, which is my standard M.O., with plans to rehab and rent it.

Of course, I do the credit check because I have some form of standards, but you have to keep in mind - that potential tenants with a wonderful credit score are most likely not going to be long-term tenants since they probably are saving up for a downpayment. 

I don't know if it is standard or just my experience, but every bank I've talked with still wants to see 6 months of reserves regardless of the loan type, so you probably won't be able to spend the entire amount.

All stuff you probably already know, Steven, but spelling it out for the benefit of others.The great part of Bigger Pockets is people get to see more than one approach so they can figure out which would work best for them and also learn new ways to look at it.I advise the opposite approach-  I believe in buying the same multi family, renovating it, renting to get the cash flow and sell in a year and a day so instead of paying the 25-28% federal, 7% state and 12% SS (adjusted for self employee deduction) for an approx. 44% tax rate, I pay 15% federal and 7% state with no SS for a 22% capital gains rate. 

@Danny Gilley if you used the standard NC lease form you are covered by 17(D) where partial payment does not prevent you from evicting the tenant.

Fairly standard in the industry, we do it as well.

I've identified my currently deductible expenses.I've calculated depreciation expenses of the buildings.I've identified obvious repairs for the properties.Where I'm struggling is with some of the larger expenses.