(I'm not going to provide the name of the individual purely as a professional courtesy, because at the end of the day my experience has been good except for my doubt of the quality of the investment)Coaching and mentorship is invaluable, but I will continue the process of looking for one, especially at the local level.Thanks again for the story -- that's awesome you guys were dedicated and came back as champs.

It's very common in the old parts of Milwaukee to find small commercial storefronts which also have 2-4 residential units.I found a 4-unit which I like purely on the merits of the residential units.

In some scenarios the agent he employs will also have to negotiate 2X the price of his or her commission too because the seller will now demand an agent.Agents add transaction costs...pure and simple.

I think I like a HELOC better than a pure loan, as it is there only if/when you need it.

Buying property for appreciation is like hearing from a "friend" that is stock is good--buy and and make tons of cash...PURELY specualive and not what any RE investor would do...

Either the flavoring or nicotine made me sick. 

Conventional loans need 20-30% down, and then would allow a property to be pure rental with no owner occupied requirement, and less restrictions for the property.

Here's a simple SFR as a buy n hold property. 20% down all numbers are guesstimates for the area (property taxes and insurances etc) the rehab will be purely cosmetic (hypothetically) Just want to get some different views on this.

Flat Pure White ceilings, Eggshell Agreeable Gray walls, and Semi-gloss Pure White trim/doors is very popular right now. 

So you need to find a property where the price is justified by the rents, which means learning how to analyze a multifamily property as an operating business (which it is).There may still be properties out there where the high rents justify the high prices, and the property can still cash flow - usually because you can get a low interest rate mortgage that keeps the mortgage payment just low enough that you can eek out a profit.But you'll need to learn how to do that analysis, to determine which prices are still acceptable given the rents, and which are so high that you're setting yourself up for a potential negative cash flow situation.As far as it being owner occupied / living in one of the units, you're not counting the fact that by living in one of the units, you're also not paying rent somewhere else, so you get a personal use benefit which does save you money.That can be hard to calculate though, so what I usually recommend to people is that they analyze a multifamily that they're going to live in, as if they're not going to live in it, and instead rent out the owner unit at market rent.That makes it much easier to analyze as a pure investment, and compare it to other properties, see if it's cash flow positive or negative, etc.And as an added bonus, someday you may want to move out - either to a single family home or a different multifamily house hack.