People are also more flexible with septic but back to that lagoon, I think its just going to turn a lot of potential buyers off.

Working on trimming down our belongings so we can have more flexibility in where we live (size and quality, I guess).

Below are the "shorts" on each component.Area: Philly (Manayunk); Block has a greater variance in market value than most (based on house types)Landlord/Seller Wants to avoid paying RE commissions; Wants to avoid capital Gains Tax by using a 1031 Exchange; Doesn't know his timing yet (wants flexibility)Current Renter/Buyer (current renter for last 8 years on the subject property): Little Money to put down ~5%; Shows a small income on tax returns (waiter); Will have a tough time qualifying for a mortgage thru a traditional lender.House: SFH; Seller bought for $70K -- 15 years ago.

You can't have any holes in the screens, you can't have more than 1 person per 50 sq ft of bedroom space, no flexible pipe from the sink drain and no plastic water supply to any faucets, GFIs in basements and garages and within like 10' of the sink, no flexible pipe to hot water tank or furnace, no nail holes or non-fire rated foam crack filler in the garage wall between the garage and the house because fire can spread faster from the garage to the house... 

This seems much more flexible as far as exit strategy goes.  

My question is, do you think there is a downside in telling him about 1031 exchanges in hopes to get him more flexible on price.

I would like to leverage my money so that I can use it more effectively and have some flexibility.

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.