@Lucas Carl I wanted to look into the Smoky Mountains STR and get your opinion from an investor standpoint.

However, if you are dealing with a normal seller without any experience, you're going to be looking at an uphill battle because investing may not be something that has crossed their mind.

depends on the market. your rust belt buys who buy this stuff for the price of used cars are going to say 250k max for 5k in incomeyour west coast folks with strong potential for rent growth and appreciation may say. 750k.

My wife normally handles the people equation of my rental business, because I am too nice and care about people's feelings too much.Do I need to even tell him that I am getting multiple bids?

You can get discounts for bundling multiple properties or combining it with your car insurance, etc.

Separating utilities would be a large upfront cost, however, utilities under master meter is approx $125/month/unit which would be in the range where normal utilities would run in my area.Purchase: $625,000Closing costs: $15,000Down payment, 25%: $156,25025 year, 5% interestMonthly P I: $2740Monthly income: $15,200Monthly expenses: $11,715 (most numbers are sellers pro forma until I look more in detail)Not accurate rehab quote at this point, but what I mentioned above, if each unit needs a facelift with flooring and paint, approx $5000/unit, close to $100,000 rehab budget would need to be expected.

You would normally find a property off market to do this.Anyway, I hope that helps in some way. 

I suppose hard money lenders may be another route, but that would place you at a sizable disadvantage because normal folks that house hack enjoy conventional low-interest rates, and for their first home, they could qualify for first-time homebuyers grants.

My experience in rentals as been if you have a high end unit but at a slightly lower cost then market (for the same apt in a better neighborhood) you can pull these tenants into areas that normally don't command rent that high.

This is my first time working with a property manager so maybe this is the normal experience.