," and I'm not prone to analysis paralysis, but it seems pretty short-sighted to leap before getting stuff like this right Day 1. 

For two reasons: 1) if your current mortgage is a "amortized" loan (meaning you pay a portion of principle and interest every month) - EVEN IF you pay down a large chunk of that mortgage with the money you have in the bank it won't actually save you any money.

Do you have a mentor/coach/partner (one that will be on sight with you - not some national guru who can't see what you see).

I also know the formula to figuring that out but you still need to know the value of the house vs. the listing price.I think it is ENTIRELY possible that I'm overthinking things right now it simply missing something in plain sight lol

Do you have a mentor/coach/partner (one that will be on sight with you - not some national guru who can't see what you see).

Hi @James Wise I am familiar with that sight and use it often, however I didn’t see zip 35211 mentioned on it anywhere.

I am not looking to invest into real estate, but am actually trying to find a backdoor way of buying a primary residence below market value and come up with a down payment and closing cost as well.Of course I don’t have a problem affording a mortgage along with principle, interest, taxes and yearly maintenance as long as the combine amount is no more than what I currently pay in rent.But I really can’t come up with much of a down payment since most of my take home pay after paying the bills goes towards investing for retirement via a 401k & IRA.

I submitted my offer sight unseen Thursday afternoon with it being on the market just 2 days.

I submitted my offer sight unseen Thursday afternoon with it being on the market just 2 days. 

You're wrong on almost all of your assumptions as far a CoC and how the mortgage/principle factors in as they are applied to REI.