Your choice of plumber?

SFR are the worse initial cash flow choice without a value add. 

A good friend of mine is willing to sell his home to me for 260K.The challenge is I am self employed with 1099's and most banks I know are kind of iffy about 1099 people.I am wondering if there is any alternative to getting a 30 year mortage?

Every penny towards our down payment and all estimated rehab costs represents a choice to not eat dinner at a restaurant, not buy our kids the item at the top of their Christmas list, etc.

So we're staring at several months that are normally when our busy season start ramping up... and we have no income at all, and some substantial overhead (mostly in terms of mortgage payments)While we have even discussed turning these properties into LTRs, I fear that in the current climate in NYC, this is not the time period to start a LTR contract.The only idea that I've come up with so far, is to list the properties at a substantial discount for week-to-month long chunks, and to advertise through alternate sources like Craiglist.

However, if we can just slow things down we are going to be in much better shape than the alternative. 

Just because people are supposed to limit personal contact doesn't mean you can't try to function in an alternative matter.

I'd double down on confidence and do what you can (as I am) to help them make the wisest choice they can so they have the best chance of success and if you can help them avoid a bad deal - then, of course, do it because we're all in this together.  

While we can do as much as we can, there ultimately will be some onus on the interested party to do their due diligence to ensure the property they are interested in is a good fit and this should be a reminder point.I whole heartedly agree, encourage and believe it is a must to speak to the interested party virtually via WhatsApp, FaceTime, Zoom, Hangouts or some other medium of your choice as part of your application screening process.

Alternatively, avoiding taxes is not that goal, and you essentially sell the property in the near term to your syndication group and pay taxes.