In our case we had to pay approximately 90% of what the appraised value was.

Make sure you don't get talked out of things conditions (ie inspection and financing-unless you are paying cash or know enough to do the inspection yourself).

By having more tenants there are more eyes to watch for issues that may pop up, more people paying rent, and if you have one of the units vacant for a bit, it will not hurt the bank as bad as it would if you only have two tenants in the building and one of them left.   

Like many, you can use a HELOC in the US but, for an investor, that's the same as paying cash.2.

Or am I paying for 12 months of interest?

They are brutal in all of South Carolina, but specifically in Columbia.A $1,000,000 investment property would be paying over $28,000 year just in property taxes.#1 tip I'd give if you're buying existing (or building) is to call the assessor and ask specifically what the new assessment will be after improvements.

This can be in the form of cash, paying their agent fee, part of their moving costs, etc.Remember, the goal here is to end the lease peacefully and legally, respecting both your rights and those of your tenants.

I was able to get the rood payment cut in half, so I did not have to pay the whole price for it.

The 3% or 4% fee sounds good, but if you are paying them off quickly, the actual interest rate you are paying is over 10%.  

Did you pay cash for it?