For example, if we added a 4th partner who is based in Atlanta to live in the property for a certain period of time, could the loan be viewed as a regular way mortgage versus an investment mortgage, resulting is us having to put down much less than 20%?

And to address your question of buying the LLC versus buying the property itself...My interpretation is that if you buy the company which owns the building instead of the building itself, there is no sale of the building for which the county to base any revaluation upon.

And the best kicker is that the owner is willing to finance it with 15% down and 6% interest, which is better than any bank.So, I'll go ahead and use the formula mentioned to see what the worst case scenario would be:$800/mo x 10 homes = $96,000/year-50% Vacancy and or expenses = $48,000/year-$1900/month mortgage = $23,000/year-$250/month water = $3000/year-$110/month trash = $1320/year-$1943/year property taxes per-$1800/year insurance-----------------------------------+$96,000 Income-$48,000 vacancy/repairs-$23,000 mortgage-$3,000 water-$1320 trash-$1943 property taxes-$1800 insurance-----------------$16,937 Net Operating Income @ 50% expense/vacancyWe would have an extra $19,200 if we can keep it at 30% which we're hoping/expecting to be at on the second year after doing some improvements and getting everything rentedWe also believe this can make us look good with the bank for owning property and having cashflow to be able to get another bigger loan in the future.

So your 25% ROI may not actually be that high when you factor in high turnovers rates, high property management costs, and unexpected capital improvements.

Basis = what you paid + capital improvements - depreciation to date.  

Interested in flipping to get my feet wet and learn in real world situations versus book information. 

Our main concern is continuing to be compliant and being proactive versus reactive.

Taxes will be around 20% of your actual profit (sales proceeds minus purchasse price/costs, plus any improvements you did).  

My premium would be on the low end if I did short term (1 year) versus long term (20 year), but the premiums can/will increase at each renewal period.I am about to turn 30 years old in a few months.2nd question - What is a good rule of thumb for the amount of the death benefit?

I am currently generating and creating my next direct mail list and wanted to hear your success with yellow letters versus postcards or standard letters?