The main drawback is that the location is in a B-/C neighborhood, so I could never factor in appreciation.

A loan being sold on the secondary market must meet Criteria A B and C, whereas a portfolio loan can choose to require you to only meet C.As you scale up, your relationship with the lenders will become more important.You could also try for a commercial "blanket" loan, where you are putting the existing properties into one loan.

A,B,C, or D2) What cash on cash do you expect?

I personally like to use Parma because it's a B grade area, not many foreclosures in this area to skew prices/results.

Like you said, you will get better cash-flow on the C/D class assets than you will on the A-/B but those C/D assets rarely will appreciate much on their own.I'm a cash-flow investor so I like the B-/C class stuff so that I can get decent cash-flow BUT because I usually buy non-updated assets, I can force appreciation by doing a $10-20k renovation.

I have a BS degree in Bus/RE (20+ years ago), with 18 years in Accounting and Finance roles for a large manufacturer.

From A-B, to B-C contracts, transactional funding, controlling the entire deal yourself, etc...

I'm not familiar with real estate prices in the US, I'm from Edmonton, AB.

They do double closings but (as with most title companies) require that the A-B be independently funded and recorded before they can close the B-C.

you could talk to the department of real estate and or look up the regs.. also a local RE attorney.then you could call a title co.. and see if they allow A B C closings with B needing NO money.. most won't I have not heard of options having any issue like Texas.