Ill redo the math again.

I also determined that he didn't have much use for the money until he retired.By doing some math, I determined that the difference between the price he wanted to sell and I wanted to by would be paid down as principal portion of his monthly payments over the next 4 years.  

After about a year he was able to get section 8 renters, and every property was rented for $650, and that was almost 10 years ago..And to this day he still has those properties plus somewhere around 10-15 more...HE dosent use porperty managemnt he does it himself...You do the math...i can tell you one thing, he hasnt worked a regular job in years, him and his wife, travel, he gets upnd enjoys life to the fullest, stress free, financially free and he dosent have some unexperienced 25 year old boss telling him what to do. 

Hey @Chip Chronister as Jordan put forth,  why not use self directed IRA for your down payment etc. and use a portfolio low not get best rates and proceeds to purchase the property( if you have done the math and numbers work).

My suggestion would be to do the math for your buyer's ahead of time before you make your offers to sellers.  

Unless your friend has the money to pay back the lender the full amount owed after whatever the buyer is willing to pay, there's no deal.Here's the math for illustration (I have no idea what the actual numbers are):  She owes ~60k, the house is worth ~42k, if you subtract ~20k in repairs, now you are down to ~22k of value before you even consider any other costs or possible profit for an investor!

", so what was your primary and secondary exit strategy when you put on a contract on the property?

It may help.http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2013/01/19/real-estate-math/

If DU approves a loan at 47% then the loans is eligible for delivery to fannie or wells fargo or penny mac or whoever is going to buy the loan on the secondary market. 

I would like to see examples of how other people started off, especially with math and numbers to see what i am dealing with.