If you are willing to sell your home and downside that can be a wonderful start but if you want to expand quickly you will need to attract other funds also.

I typically do always ask for closing costs but want to ensure I put in an attractive offer.  

Chances are the expenses are artificially low (to make the property more attractive to potential buyer) on the report.Good thing is that for a lot of expenses, you can do estimate expenses by researching online.  

As a general rule (and I have seen several other investors on BP who follow this method), I would make the newly available unit slightly better than what is available in the market so that you will hopefully attract better tenants. 

Its just like the law of attraction sort of situations that Brandon spoke about where when you focus on something so hard, the universe presents it to you..  

If you buy right you can offer terms that are so attractive it really doesn't take much to find buyers who will eat it up.

And yes, as you are finding out, the difficult part will be attracting investors when you have no experience in the sector (just being candid). 

They have been very active in this space and at attractive rates.

Not only will it justify my higher rents, but it makes the neighborhood look nicer and allows (potentially) for other properties to attract higher quality tenants.

If a motivated seller doesn't need the money upfront - seller financing can be an attractive option.