They have to have money and I will spend time helping them learn as they might hold the money currently in stock and have never purchased real estate etc.

My farm area is a turn of the century cincinnati suburb and most of the housing stock still has old windows.

I'm sure many people have struggled with this question before me- should I cash out my more traditional investments in stocks/bonds in order to expedite my ability to buy property?

I realize that if I put this on a 15yr note my return will be mostly principle down payment but still a 20% return on investment.

Generally in your situation most other investors would follow principles of leverage and avoid paying cash.

Rented to a nice professional couple, very good income, but just went through a short sale ... so, they sold some stock in their retirement plan and paid me 1 year of rent up front to make up for that.

(I'll add that to the bottom of this post)Also, while not directly a foreclosure cost, other factors add to the unpaid principle balance.

It just means an investor whose investment objective is generating positive passive monthly income, may better achieve that goal in say Detroit or Baltimore or may have to look into bonds or a dividend paying stock, as opposed to crossing your fingers and waiting on appreciation while getting hit with monthly cash outflow throughout the holding period.So if the number makes sense considerably in the long term... then as some way to avoid walking away from the market completely, the investor may then have to figure out just how much cash is needed for a down payment, to finance a lower principal balance, where they just break even and dont to incur a monthly cash outflow as previously discussed.

I would have started learning about investing in RE in college rather than gambling on stocks while taking notes.If I have the knowledge and drive back then I might have skipped a party to buy a house or two. 

In the above case, 9% IRR.You should think of it as putting the Investment in to a Certificate of Deposit, holding it for 10 years at the 9% IRR per year for the 10 years.The IRR Calculations gives you a fantastic way to calculate ANY type of Investment against each other, including Stocks, Bonds, Real Estate, ANYTHING really.Once you know all the Cashflows for the entire 10 year target life of the Investment, then you can get an IRR for it.Now, let's look at a 2nd Scenario with this EXACT spreadsheet, but with different numbers:We increased the price to $500k, buying in a location that has at least the national appreciation rate.