In the examples and statements I made here, I was intending to make the point that someone found and bought the properties at a significant discount, using a wholesaling lead generation system.

I’d like to know what city/town your properties are in and if you are using a property manager.

This comment as it stands doesn't really provide enough info for a conclusion.If you could include the type of ad you had, what the copy consisted of, your budget, how long you ran it for, who you targeted, etc. if that makes sense.For all we know, your ad could've said "we buy houses" in comic sans rainbow colors and targeted males aged 18-24 in one zipcode who have "recently bought using a credit card online" ... which would most likely not generate any leads and be your reason for not getting good results even if you had a $20k landing page haha. 

Looks like you are using a great strategy to start your real estate business!

The wholesaler has the buildings under contract with the current owner, and wants to close using a duel escrow.

He will see it eventually on the HUD1 (except when using a double close) but asking early in the process smells of negotiating tactic to me.

Like I said this was just an exercise in understanding cap rates using a real world example and NOT a property I was going to bid on or do anything more then just look into the numbers publicly available.Special call out to @Andrew Johnson for the great reminder to do due diligence.

The way I got into my first rental was using a FHA 5% down and living in it for ~1.5yrs, saving up money for the next property and renting out the first.

We’ve looked at a few alternatives to include using a conventional loan and re-appraisal.

I’m interested in hearing positive stories of how using a 203k loan or “house hacking” your first property positively impacted your real estate journey?