Excellent ideas here, @Lucas Carl  I use a similar strategy for my LTRs in order to reduce the impending stress caused by tenants with the wrong mentality.Reading your post brought to mind a question I've never considered before:  are vacation rentals subject to Fair Housing Laws in the same way that LTRs are?  

For tenants who became unemployed and hours cut I reduced their rent.

All extra cash from tax prorations is now used to reduce principal.

Do the Seller's want all cash now, or would they prefer to do some owner finance over 5 years to make a little interest and reduce their tax bill?   

Taxes went up" - they didn't, or you appeal a year from now and get them reduced.

This vehicle costs a bit more to setup initially due to the legal structure, but will be much more useful and will save you a lot in reduced per-transaction fees from the custodian over time.Several providers of these types of plans are active here on BP. 

The fed can print as much as they want if people is hesitant they will not spend hence reducing the velocity of money and probably tanking the economy.Summing up, I think the article is on point.

Maybe call a few of them and see how willing the owner is ready to reduce rent.

In the example above, if your payment due was $1,100.....then $1,000 goes to the interest due and the extra $100 reduces your loan balance to $99,900, so......The following month, 1% of $99,900 is $999....so that amount goes to interest for the month and the rest of your $1,100 payment, $101, goes toward principal, lowering your loan balance to $99,799....and so on and so on. 

If repaid on time, there is no early distribution penalty or taxes.If the plan is to take retirement funds as a distribution and not pay back, then there's going to be a number of factors that will determine the tax treatment (example: if you're still employed, if it's a 401k with current employer, current financial situation, your age, what the funds are used for, etc...).A financial advisor or tax professional with all your specific details should be able to help provide a plan to reduce your taxes and penalties accordingly.