Yes, it is difficult and yes, this is a sellers' market in TX so finding sellers who are motivated enough to discount property to you is looking for the needle in the haystack.  

@Christopher Meaker I would imagine that in your area there are much easier and straight forward deals to cut your teeth on.Perhaps start with a couple 2-4 residential income units and move up from there?

Some services are free and some have a discounted charge.

The conversion is going to be expensive so I think I'm going to give them heavily discounted lease rate and have them pay for buildout.

Its all depends most of the older houses around here with plaster are straight on the brick with furring strips.It can definitely raise maintenance costs.

The cash offer is too, as well as the fact that he didn't ask for a discount for pre-payment.

You are either trying to buy an investment by getting either equity or cash flow at a discount.

Finally, your tenants will be building equity for you. " <-- This is basically the idea I had behind my original question of buying straight out vs mortgaging.

I always like to go straight to the source to verify information as I understand it.  

If I sell a home for $10,000 and don't charge any interest just straight payments for x months would that be legal?