He indicated he did, and we negotiated a price for $350,000.

I started with these two companies because I've heard a lot of great things about them over many posts and their respective CEO's have contributed greatly to many posts here at BP.Birmingham looks promising, population growth (while minimal) seems stable, lots of new economic activities and projects developing that will help spark the economy.Dallas/Houston surrounded by great companies however Im afraid it might be harder to find properties in these markets that have been quite hot for sometime now.

. :)  So you get minimal help on learning good negotiating and actually being good at following deadlines and understanding how to protect your client (yourself) in a transaction. 

But I don't think that's anything you don't already know @Rich Weese Real estate markets going crazy is usually a good indicator of something about to happen, but I wouldn't say real estate causes the recession; rather the pre-recession creates artificial upward pressure on real estate. 

You may not get to live completely "rent-free", but the idea is to be able to acquire property that will cash-flow when you move out & minimize your living expenses in the meantime.  

Usually, the status would be updated to "Pending," indicating that it is under contract.

So here's my primary dilemma right now - we have good credit, and solid incomes (above average for the area) - is there a traditional financing option for me that requires a minimal down payment for multifamily investment properties?  

Because they didn't have the drive within themselves, they couldn't find a way to put minimal work in and expect huge results.

You would be surprised and some of the returns you can achieve with a minimal upfront investment.

This choice costs you the minimal amount of interest you'd save had you used the funds to pay towards mortgage instead.