Hope you can use it as leverage to grow your portfolio. 

I've got an investor looking to unload about 6 of her properties.  I was only interested in a single property, but they mentioned possibly owner financing.  Probably to save on capital gains taxes.  My business plan h...

However, I'm very excited to include this home into my portfolio, as it's in a trending location, with LOTS of investment and development in the area. 

That's a fairly tried and tested way to getting a small portfolio of rentals in a few years.

I have helped many owners of rentals reposition their portfolios with this approach.

My portfolio is diversified.  

I agree with both of you; the internal financial expert can post a debit and credit, and also (perhaps more importantly) partner with you in formulating more strategic portfolio management/performance analytics.

In my portfolio lending world, we would have a hard time getting an investor through if they don't already own their primary residence. 

For instance, other real estate investors may be willing to do a seller-financed deal because they would view the benefits of the note is included in their investment portfolio.

Generally, they will only provide between 65-75% LTV so the less you spend on purchase price, the better terms you get with the lender.However, the hard money lender will likely need a portfolio to lend to you at those levels; they will not be willing to lend to anyone.