The higher amount you put in escrow usually lets the seller know how serious you are about purchasing the property.Dealing with bank owned properties escrow required is usually $1,000 bucks.Dealing with private sellers you definitely want to try and minimize your risk by putting as least as possible in escrow.

It's bad enough I have wholesalers marketing "deals" to me that are 90% of ARV and are being pitched as "great", "hot", "unbelievable" deals.  

Are you just looking for tax data entry, or do you want a strategy to help you minimize taxes and make effective business decisions?

I found a duplex that required minimal work that allowed me to rent the property quickly.Depending on your experiences with rehabs, it might be better to start with something that doesn't require a ton of work so you can focus on learning the landlording business, developing relationships with contractors, so when you're ready to do a full rehab you have the pieces in place.

Plant replacement is minimal by comparison - under $100 total and only taking care of stuff that was dead or way overgrown.

Recieving emails from investors wholesaling others deals marked up when i received the original email dealsRecieving emails from investors wholesaling deals with under valued repairs.Recieving emails from investors wholesaling a deal with an ARV from a Zestimate only or an ARV twice as much as the highest retail/REO comp in the areaRecieving emails from investors that are already on the MLSStubborn buyers who are in denial about the amount of repairs there property has.Listening to Guru's who say "all you got to do is work for 4 hours a week and make $30,000"1 hour webinars that spend 45 minutes introducing themselves 5 minutes explaining creative investing and 10 minutes pitching coaching and slashing prices

@Lee Arnold - since your profile photo has the Liberty Bell in it, I will write a line or two to point you on where to get more info :)   Basically, MAO is the max price you can pay and still make the minimal amount of profit. 

Prefer something turn key or with minimal work.

Thanks,  @Shaun Reilly .Corey, our Black Diamond events are free, with no sales pitches. 

Even if you could keep the 3rd unit, the cost to legalize could range from minimal to too-big-to-bother (again, will depend on your exact situation).Hard to know unless you talk to the folks who enforce the rules.