First and foremost, I would try to get reliable eyes on the ground as soon as possible.

I'm thinking about house hacking to free up cash flow too, but every strategy has its pros and cons, and thats just a backup in my eyes.  

I specifically have a fairly good small painting company (very reasonable, you just have to keep an eye on them to keep the quality consistent) and a granite yard/fabricator. 

They can not actually take care of your property since you don't have eyes on it and let it get trashed.

it's always good to keep an eye on the PM.

Then a couple years later, I recall other banks (and maybe even the original lending bank) looking at that mortgage with wide eyes and telling me they can not do fixed rate commercial mortgages for that long any more . . .

The cat smell was eye watering, to make it worst the property was boarded up for 4 yrs.

It doesn't make sense because I'm the kind of person that wants to lay eyes on the asset during the diligence process and at least 1-2 times a year after that.

I personally wouldn't hire a designer as I think I have a decent eye for those kinds of things but to each their own.

I am currently eyeing a deal that has 18 units, 5 garages and what looks to be a great rate of return.YearRents1.$102,782$24,321$41,500$36,96224.64%$121,453$80,253-21.86%2.$105,866$24,321$42,745$38,80025.87%$143,652$101,2169.72%3.$109,042$24,321$44,027$40,69427.13%$166,625$122,91620.80%4.$112,313$24,321$45,348$42,64428.43%$190,400$145,37925.63%5.$115,682$24,321$46,709$44,65329.77%$215,005$168,63427.98%I need some help to pull the deal together, I have great W2 income and great credit, but I lack the 20% down to make it happen.