., we would be doing him a favor, but I would also be getting a great deal on a house we could later rehab ( causing forced equity) and rent ( cash flow).. yay?

This is all assuming arm's length transaction.

After that, it is college and if you are close to the base, air force.

The property management arm does an excellent job getting to lease renewals early.Overall, the company has been an excellent way to invest in single family residences out of state, for what I want (mostly hands off, property solidly rehabbed, steady cash flow, consistent updates from property manager).

I have a fair amount of construction and landscaping experience and am drawn to the idea of forced appreciation.  

He/She is forced into a PM arrangement until the cycle recovers.My stance has always been to buy when CoC makes sense.

The value you seek is smallish, so I would look for an LTV they would like, seek terms you would like (no prepayment penalty, 20yr arm) and then 3-4 months post COE, slam your cash into the loan, it that's your choice.

Some combination of ARM, higher rate, and points upfront, will apply.All of this should have been brought to your attention back when you were seeking preapproval, this is commodity/common knowledge among lenders. 

Once that is used up I may consider bringing in some private lenders for funding the down payments and use ARM's for additional loans.I mainly want to buy and hold but also want to have properties that will appreciate in value and can sell off every 4-6 years.I have about 115k in my 401k that my lender says I can use for reserves but was wondering how I can keep up the appropriate debt/income ratio so that I can continue to grow.I appreciate any feedback to this plan. 

In addition, I have already achieved most of the forced appreciation.