I would reccomend finding local community banks and credit unions because they are more flexible with that.

I would probably be able to initially get a remote job (=somewhat flexible time) that would pay the bills.I am thinking of putting down enough on each unit to generate the cash-flow to generously cover expenses, and roll that cash-flow into expending the business.As far as I am looking at it the maths and my spreadsheets check out but as the title of this post says, I'm a newbie and would appreciate feedback.Oh, if you are an experienced real estate investor in those areas I mentioned, and can't seem to figure out how to stay organize, scale and automate your business, drop me a line I can probably help.Thanks!

If you wanted to pay it off early (i.e. 3-5 yrs) you could just make extra payments, but you'd have the flexibility not to and you wouldn't have to worry about a balloon payment in the near future. 

A partial list of soft skills that are essential to real estate are: communication negotiation personal accountability responsibility emotional intelligence listening skills etiquette empathy curiosity collaboration creative thinking willingness to learn flexibility - See more at: http://www.thenatureofrealestate.com/soft-skills-a...

And secondly: what contingency do you all use for the most protection and flexibility?

Late fees can be applied in a flexible manner as well.

We're straying flexible and considering it a win win.I'm a year in with two properties and now a financing deal.

I love what I do and I enjoy working part time and the flexibility to spend time with my daughter and family. 

Doing the math, it would cashflow wonderfully on its own as an investment, between $200-$300 a door/mo after 50% rule and mortgage, with some updating and raising rents closer to market rate as a result.The catch here is that I would like to owner occupy my first purchase, partially for ease of managing the property, partially for some lifestyle flexibility (namely pets) that come with owning your residence as opposed to renting.Do folks looking to owner occupy their rentals work out the math on a property including they rental they plan to occupy as part of the cashflow/door calculations or is it more common to try to make the numbers work under the assumption its a 3 unit property?

Their underwriting requirements are much more flexible than the bigger banks.