And, as you suggest, focusing on the first deal, not 2nd 3rd etc... 20-30% is just to much RIGHT NOW for a buy and hold, unless I get that down payment wholly or partially financed, OR I do NOT hold but plan for an exit as I've been recently been thinking like selling it somehow before the balloon or option period come up, however I acquire it.

Any additional advice or recommendations are appreciated!

It is interesting that Nathan W seems to be interested in acquiring turnaround properties as this is the number one thing that leads community investors to investing the time and money into doing seller finance correctly and legally.

A third party will force an additional layer of accountability and precision vs. one person doing it themselves.

Just want to verify this info with you all local professional investors.In addition, are there any property tax discount programs created by the city or state available to incentivize investors to invest in philly, just curious to know as well.

Check with your employer/benefit plan, some have rules that if its not your primary residence that you need to pay back the loan within 5 years, some plans do not let you make additional payments but allow pay off in full as early as you want, also if you leave your employer anytime before the loan is due, you may have to pay it off or pay a penalty.  

@Andrew Beshara, I've helped a lot of foreign investors acquire properties here in the States and have a great attorney/cpa firm that can assist in your individual situation and what your income tax implications may be.  

We've started to do research but are still unsure about the best way to acquire financing as a group.

We had all the RIGHT puzzle pieces sitting in our laps (great realtor, carpenters, and mortgage broker as close friends and family) so we just had to simply put them together (with a lot of hard work and having a family of 4 living in one room at a time for a couple years.)We are now moving to Roslyn, WA and hope to start a similar (although not as extensive) project there and also try to acquire some SFHs in Kittitas County to start our REI education/climb to billions. :) This feels like bragging, but it was a lot of market luck, hard work, amazing friends, and a wife with an eye for staging.

I'm looking to acquire real estate through a hard money lender who will lend based on a percentage of the appraised value.