You don’t have to do that much (relative to many other types of business).But that’s a double edged sword. 

.- Current owner continues making monthly payments, we pay him after he shows he paid the mortgage on time.

Downpayment, closing costs, holding costs (loan payment, utilities, insurance), money to front the contractor to get started (you get back after the rehab is done). 

Newer agents have a large cut to the Broker than others.

Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, interest on such loans is typically deductible if used for buying, building, or substantially improving the taxpayer's home that secures the loan.

On the management side easily I get exponential quality and have been able to move my management into a proactive phase rather than reactive (I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off my first two years in real estate!)

Not the smartest move by the seller, but it cuts down on buyer competition, which is in your favor. include something like this: Offer is contingent on buyer walk through of the entire property within 3 days of acceptance to buyers satisfaction, otherwise buyer may declare this offer is null and void via written notice within 5 days after AO. 

I released the co-signer after first year of timely payments.

In 2018, I had the opportunity to be on the cutting edge of something new—I bought one of the first 9-bedroom lakeview properties in the Branson area.

When you are going to be living in one of the units you can use a low money down loan with a down payment of 3.5-5% down and live in the building for one year and then if you’ve saved enough for another down payment you can then put another 3.5-5% down on the next building and live there for a year and keep doing this year after year and build up a nice portfolio this way.