Eventually most people run out of their own money for pure cash flow plays.

If you believe you will need cash soon enough, then you want to put as little as possible, so that you can do more purchases to start building up your portfolio.If you believe you won't need the cash for the near future ... then put down 20% and avoid extra expenses ... such as PMI ... etc.My very first rentals, I bought them in class A, pure appreciation play, put 20% down.

If it's purely/mainly from extra money you've put into it, then that hardly counts, right?

@Kenny Lee  this is all pure speculation of course since we are not on the front lines.but I have sold many a house on contract and the buyer still called his payment rent.. and called me to fix things after he moved in..

No issue at all with just buying a multi (or any property) as purely an investment.Perhaps you're concerned with down payments. 

I agree with @James Wise, you don't want to compete like that.I've always been an advocate for quality over quantity and Redfin is purely the latter. 

I don't know if that would have been grandfathered, but it's dangerous so I change it for copper (short story: copper and aluminum expand/contact differently and over time their connections can weaken and result in a fire) The house I bought from 2001 was pure copper. 

Regarding pure valuation (aka, what price will someone pay for my asset), I believe Cap Rate is more than a back of hand calculation.

Hi Chris,Deciding to make a career change, especially to something that is purely commission based and has a lot of fees starting out, is a major decision. 

I don't get the attraction of points over pure, hard cash back on the cards.