IF you are looking to house hack a multiunit in DC you may have to go to lower income / less desirable areas.  

Once you know that number you can make a lower offer and see if you can save money. 

The penalty and tax will remain, but there may be other offsetting tax benefits in other areas that will help lower your overall tax bill.Your expenses to fix up the house can either be an immediate expense or a depreciating asset, depending on the facts and circumstances surrounding your "in use" date. 

I think you may be high on the 3 bedroom rent because that area is saturated so I would estimate lower on rents to be safe.

Then you'll be back on this board complaining about how your "friends" screwed you.Even for a really good tenant I won't lower rent more than 10-15% below market.

Price / Rent Ratio - lower the better Avg Median Income - feeds into #2, not as important on its ownAvg Median Price - feeds into #2, not as important on its ownAvg Median Rent - feeds into #2, not as important on its ownRent % of Income - rent should be >1/3 of incomeSociodemographic Rank - should be high (used this article)Population Growth - should outpace US average (used this site)Jobs Growth - highger the better (used Forbes data: example)Law Favorability - should be landlord-friendly (used Avail: example)State Tax Favorability - should be favorable (used this article)Poverty Level - should be low (used city-data.com)Crime - should be below US average of 290 (used city-data.com)Industries Present - should be diverse (used city-data.com) Here are the markets I evaluated: Bend, ORGreenville, SCCharlotte, NCMeridian, IDMidland, TXSpartanburg, SCHuntsville, ALKent, WAWithout any further delay, here is my market analysis laid out with selection criteria and markets: As you can see, the Top 2 Markets are: Meridian, IDCharlotte, NCand they are mostly green across the board, hitting all selection criteria, at a reasonable purchase price for my first investment at a young age.Now that I've completed a brief analysis, I'm looking to dive into deal finding and developing my Core 4.What are your thoughts on my preliminary market analysis?

However given that you have had significant issues consider renegotiating at a significantly lower price.

I might even be able to get away with a slightly lower bid on the property in exchange for a chance at a higher payout in the future.My initial concern is that their cut might have to be cost prohibitively high in order to be appealing.

Researching pockets with lower DOM may be your best bet since 30349 encompasses various swings in median income/avg home prices.

As far as strategy/criteria:I'm primarily looking at buy-and-hold SFR/MFR rentals.I'm not opposed to doing extensive rehab as I grow/learn but I'd like to start with a simpler, lower-risk rehab on property #1.In that vein, this is all a toe-in-the-water / experiment for me.