My ideal scenario RIGHT NOW would be to offer $160k to the seller, offer the prospective buyer $30k - $40k in renovations of their choosing in exchange for a purchase price of $260k.Any creative thoughts on this deal, financing, etc I would love to hear them.  

Congrats.glad the rental portfolio can fund the ideal lifestyle

So I deal with the "stupid trip" repair bills, higher rates for repairs, not inspecting the property the same way the owner would, etc.  

Ideally, you don't want to compete with ultra common keywords (Real Estate, Wholesaling, Real Estate Investing).

I would ideally want to self manage but not real familiar with dealing with active duty 

The seller wants to buy the home back down the road, so the tenant situation is fairly ideal as long as his income doesn't tank again (divorce and job loss are the initial hardship reasons).I'd also like to incorporate into my financing agreement something that states that non-payment of rent by the seller would result in non-payment of the mortgage, mitigating my risk in the mortgage. 

This person would ideally be knowledgeable about both buy and hold and fix N flip single family and multi family properties.Please let me know if you are interested.ThanksRick

Don't just talk to out of state investors that have just started buying a few years ago, they are still in giddy and in the "honeymoon" phase, and you won't get the real scoop.  

Ideally if the city will bill back if I buy the meters that would be a dream come true for me and one less thing that I need to worry about!  

We are ideal borrowers, very good credit +740, 20% down, cash reserves for monthly payments etc.