Does it make sense to pay a premium for cheap interest rates with seller financing, or would it just be better to put 25% and forget about my 15% criteria and just go for distressed sellers and just get a commercial loan. 

If tenants struggle to afford food, they'll likely struggle to pay rent.

The pros: - not having to do a major renovation from out of state- easier to get a conventional loan since the house is livable vs. a distressed property (would need to pay cash, do a hard money loan, some other type of financing)- can get a tenant in quicklyThe cons: - you don't know how good the renovation is, could be cosmetic without addressing underlying safety issues (plumbing, electrical, foundation, etc). - a home can pass an inspection but once someone is living in it and putting daily stress on the house (turning faucets on, light switches, turning on heat/AC etc), things can start to malfunction.

Tenants pay electric / gas / water. these percentages were from the numbers i inputted in the software.

You can purchase your own ozone machine or pay someone who does this for a living.

I have some land on the bottom of a mountain and the neighbors wells are only 200 ft deep, not on critical slope and it use to be farm ground with no rock to hammer for foundation/septic so when I eventually build there my costs will be greatly reduced and $130 to $180 a sq ft build cost could be realistic outside the cost of the land. 

But since I'm looking into ground up, there should be some sweat equity to be captured.

I do know that HUD posts rates and the local housing authority can pay between 90-110% of that payment standard for the particular zip code the property is in.

But when I add in the cost of paying on the HELOC as well, it gets even farther from penciling.

Get their feedback before making offers. 3) Pay an experienced investor to do a video tour of the property and neighborhood - someone who is unbiased (not on your agent's team).