You are not approaching the right communities and perhaps not approaching them correctly.Read some of the older threads here on BP on these subjects.

This could be higher than the current property taxes that your parents pay.Option #2 - You get added to title via QCD - quit claim deed, you wait 6 months (min required time by fannie mae for conventional cash out) , and you cash out up to 75-80% LTV max as a primary residence or as high as you feel comfortable to obtain the capital you're looking to utilize to invest with or you do a line of credit like a HELOC (home equity line of credit).The Pro's of this is that the home will not get reassessed for CA property taxes since your parents have not sold the property.You may have to account for this gift via quit claim deed - QCD but as long as your parents plan to be within the 5.49M of assets in 2017 (subject to change in the future) or annual 14k per year they should be fine (seek a tax pro).The other downside is you may not get "stepped up basis," for capital gains purposes for the whole property if they add you to title during their lifetimes (you own the property 50/50 with your parents). 

You can get the same answer just growing 1000 @ 8% for 5 years [1000 * (1 + (8%/12)^60)].The reason it's not equal to the 1,216.58 total payments is because a portion of this 1,216.58 is paid at an earlier point than your FV point (5 years in the future) and thus those payments are subject to Time Value of Money.  

"Refinance to drop lender-paid PMI" is subject to future-current rates, which may be higher. 

Maybe take a credit line against the 3 family after you purchase it or however you'd like to do that (maybe a subject 2 transaction would be worth your while or just try to take his name off that same mortgage and insert your own) and use those funds to purchase another property and flip off that line with some hard money as well.

As the subject says, I am IN!  

Do no cut any corners to make a project look better on paper.Always remember to do the math anaysis and try to look at the prospective properties before you make an offer or at least have a clause in the sales contract that allows you some time (8 to 15 days) up front to make a detailed inspection on the subject property without a penalty that will hurt you too much.  

If it is subject to rent control, your yearly allowed rental increase is usually capped between 1-3%. 

Since there are literally 15,000 banks there could be 1 that has a different approach but I have spoken with many, many banks on this subject and not found any portfolio loan with a lower down payment requirement.

Rich Ng I know everything is subjective but in your time have you ever seen a list floating around of towns with an A,B,C,D listing?