I knew the owner reasonably well, so we were able to negotiate a lease to own deal with him where a 100% of the payments were applied to the loan while my father sold a lot for substantial profit, and 1031 exchanged it for the bulk of the remaining purchase price How did you finance this deal?

This is less than $25K/month in gross revenue, much less $25K in cash flow with the high property taxes in Ohio and substantial capex holdback.  

Unless your market is an exception to the overall trend (of being inflationary right now) OR you have it under contract at a bloated price, I would be rather surprised if the appraiser didn't find a way to substantiate the contract price.

You're right . . . a HELOC would have been substantially less in closing costs along the way, and overall much simpler. 

@Chris Fillingham Awesome, that is substantially less than a down payment would have been on a rehabbed property and you get some equity too!

People usually do this to influence you to choose them if they are less then stellar renters. 

If your doing substantial rehab, I agree with Mom save your money.

Here are the pros and cons:PROs:- The cost to buy gas appliances are more inexpensive than electric appliances; -the cost to run gas is substantially cheaper than electric as well.

But we primarily invest for cashflow and rents are pretty stable in our areas due to high influence of section 8.

You buy a multifamily, live in a unit, rent out the others, and either lower substantially or eliminate a housing payment for yourself.