He told me about the improvement in the city from 20 years ago until know.

Plan on being maybe 75% levered, and that'll tell you how much money you need to put down.As you get deeper in the process you'll learn more about value add strategies and ways we can increase the cash flow on our properties to improve our returns.

I started at 10% but now I pay 5% and in the process of doing internally (due to economies of scale) but as you grow or acquire new properties, try to always improve your terms.

Are there any entrepreneur/real estate friendly refinance lenders out there or am I stuck being a flipper until our credit improves and we have been in business longer? 

We've held out hoping for long term appreciation but are looking to be more aggressive with improving cash flow.

If your counter is still in good shape, wait until before you sell, so you can list as new granite counters, and I believe there are different tax treatments if you do improvements right before sale versus just updating a rental, but I'm not an accountant, so not sure.  

I can provide specific numbers and figures if anyone is interested, but a quick breakdown of figures pending the rental income I believe is a good price (lower than a rental analysis I had done on the property) - we would come out essentially even annually or maybe barely in the red (if we are conservative with savings for improvements, maintenance, emergencies etc). 

Giving you time to improve and/or stabilize the building as necessary so you can get a loan and getting the seller their cash.

Hello @Aaron KaplanI'm a contractor that specializes in rental flips, fix and flips, Tenant improvement's, etc. for commercial and residential properties. 

My wife and I lived in the property for two years, improved every feature, and ended up selling it when the time was right.