If you are basing a purchase price mainly on the income approach, then having access to a couple of years of P & L statements are absolutely critical.The gross rental income will include your vacancy rate.

I think I would have been freaking out had it not been for that specially designated reserve.

I have tried craigslist for my area but it looks like there are a couple investors using it heavily already so I would like to try a different approach to find sellers.

(This is a very important question - too much detail to go into)This is just 30% of the work for one deal that continues to give indications it is a good deal, most of the time (95%) you will not get this far before you ween them out of your sights.It is called due diligence.I could write a whole book on this alone but this is it a nutshell, which really doesn't encompass everything that needs to be done to see if this is a good deal to invest your time into.Time is money and money is time.Don't chase everything you see or do not try the shot gun approach, hoping one sticks...

One problem with MRE's are their high fat content as they are designed to support the military in a war zone.

I really like their design.

Basically I just signed up for the Joint Venture program with Richard Roop who leans towards owner financing using creative strategies and a long term hold approach.

My design is 700sf for each unit.

When I have an abundance of prospects, I tend to take the same approach as the OP.

Your CPA / tax advisor and/or attorney should be able to guide you as to what approach you should take.