Reduced taxes and increased cash flow.  2.   

Much of this money is retirement money for the true private lenders, so rest assured they will be very very careful of who they lend their money too, and the safety of the deal for them....and it will have to pay them more than they could get with safer alternative investments.Maybe you can reduce some of those costs if your first duplex is paid off and you're willing to use that as collateral.Can you borrow today against the duplex?

Helps with relocation expenses Reduced risk of a lawsuit Allows you to be pet friendly Lowers the chance of an increase in insurance premiums 

We're working on reducing this friction from the borrowing experience.

And this would have been right at 70% of my guess for their reduced price (which never actually showed up since my offer came in on the same day and they accepted it).

I agree that capex can be reduced. 50% as you have said sounds reasonable. 

Reduce their fear with character witnesses.  

You can view/download the spreadsheet here:https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1eWquKpM8cd...Here are my Assumptions:Market; West Coast (say San Fran )Cap rate at purchase: 5% NOI: 200,000 Purchase price: $4 mill LTV: 65% Down: $1.4 mil Finance: 2.6 million Terms: 5% for 5 year term 25 year amort NOI Increase 3%/yearNOI end of year 5: 225,101.76Net cash flow years 1-5: 149,867.16Principal Reduction years 1-5: 296,915.00Debt Principal end of year 5: 2,303,085.00Cap rate at end of year 5: 8%'Renewal terms: 8% for 5 year term 25 year amort Exit strategy 1: sell in 5 years Exit Strategy 2: hold for 10 years with refi in 5 years Based on above assumptions here is what I see:Exit Strategy 1 End of Year 5 sell building for 2,813,772.03 Less O/S Debt of 2,303,085.00 Net Profit 510,687.03 Plus 5 Year Cash Flow of ` 149,867 *Principle Reduction (Included) 0 Total Net Proceeds 660,554.19 Less Down Payment 1,400,000.00 Net Loss:  (739,445.81) * Note-Principal reduction is already included in the reduced O/S debt amountExit Strategy 2 End of Year 10 sell building for 3,261,932.96 Less O/S Debt of 2,125,147.00 Net Profit 1,136,785.96 Plus 10 Year Cash Flow of 314,281.00 *Principle Reduction (Included) 0Total Net Proceeds 1,451,066.82 Less Down Payment 1,400,000.00 Net Gain 51,066.82 * Note-Principal reduction is already included in the reduced O/S debt amountGiven the above scenario, in my view, it does not seem to make any sense to buy now.

Hope you're all doing well today.I'm currently a full time house flipper/ real estate investor, but am interested in starting my own brokerage firm in part to reduce the costs of my flipping business, but also to have full access to the MLS, provide secondary income, etc.In Kentucky, in order to become a broker, you must work as a licensed real estate agent for 2x years. 

The broader point of reducing the loan to just the reno was to reduce the amount loaned, but to your point, most will presumably want to lend on the purchase price to secure a lien for after the refinance.