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.

It's very flexible and easy to use.

I work full time as a software developer (home office), but have a fairly flexible schedule.Looking for guidance.Thanks, Chad