. $250k should be able to get you 4-6 SFH's in a good city, lower B class housing which would cash-flow well, each with 25% down. 

It's a beautiful city with good quality of life, and prices are much lower than the DC area. 

Then I would be only borrowing 42k and then paying the mortgage which would probably be a lower payment than the HML. 

(We went into contract at a price lower than their original asking price and their argument was they thought because we were purchasing it so low they I wasn't getting a commission?

If your accountant is familiar with Xero then at year end they can also access so accurate tax planning can be done before the clock ticks away at year end.

Is it not equity building, because if I purchase the house in future, I will be paying a lower price since owner will deduct the amount I paid to him.

There are a few invaluable things I learned along the way:1)- Always offer lower than asking price.

If you need a 65 to 70 LTV that will also hurt your pockets. 5+ units in the bay It's is NOT for the timid or people with modest incomes unless you have access to a LOT of cheap credit. 

@Tom Kairys, one thing newbies miss is that it is much harder to get financing in the name of your entity vs. your personal name.You can get an umbrella liability policy and buy in your personal name, or buy in your personal name and then transfer to your LLC (risk the due on sale clause).All of these options have been extensively discussed on the forums and accessible via a few searches.

When evaluating cap rates I'm taking out taxes, insurance, 8% vacancy, 10% repairs, 8% cap ex, and 10% property management fees; however, if I lower all of those percentages then my cap rate is higher - is everyone using lower percentages and that's how they're finding cap rates of 10%, or am I truly looking at a lot of overpriced MLS properties?