So does buying shares in a company that owns homes—but the price tag can be much lower.Firms that own portfolios of single-family rentals are for the first time offering shares to the public through real-estate investment trusts, or REITs, says Jason Lail, manager of real-estate research at SNL Financial, a financial-information firm based in Charlottesville, Va.Six REITs that are entirely or primarily focused on single-family homes have started trading publicly since the end of 2012.Many of the properties were distressed homes purchased from banks at a discount, then repaired and rented out.

Looking for a DEEP DIVE.

Another option may be to buy a judgement or other debt owed by the property owner at a  discount.

What we typically do for current tenants in newly purchased properties is increase the rent but give them a discount to the market, and we include a print out with the current market rents.

Look for something that is just habitable enough to live in but not something super dumpy that would be appealing to cash investors where they could get a steep discount.

I'm not sure where you got the idea that your friend could not sell at a discount. 

Letting them know that you will work with them but as things get deep into fall, it gets to be a bit more challenging to rent units.

The hard part is figuring the discount rate and the appropriate level of risk.

Right now I'm looking into a duplex with following characteristics:Asking Price: $374,000Fair market Value (Based on comps): $ 378,000At this point I'm planning to offer something around $348K (8% discount).

Coming across a lot of discount properties here in the area but do not have a strong buyer list.