Absolutely make sure you get referrals for any prospective PMs, multiple if possible.Edit: Oops, just realized this was posted a year ago (thought it said day ago)

A great start.Rent for 3 bed sounds sounds a little bit low. 

You can go up to a 4 unit and get favorable gov't financing for owner occupied buildings with low down payments and low interest rates. 

Hello, A buddy of mine needs to get 3 of his rental properties refi/cashout in the Bay Area. He's looking for a lender who will get him 3% to 3.65% no cost only title fees..... 2 of the assets are a 4plex and one is a...

Absolutely welcome.  

What is the best way to put pressure on the lien holder to settle low?

I would pass just on that basis but make sure your expenses are realistic before you do that: taxes look high, vacancy looks high, insurance looks a little low, and property management looks high.  

You guys can keep skipping these low equity houses if you'd like.

@Jay Orlauski,Cheers, no problem.One big take-away for me was also that the owners of the real estate stood to make a crap ton more than the sub-letters, overall.And also that wholesaling isn't really the best low-barrier-to-entry way to get into REI any more.

Here is the deal, we sent out direct mail and got a ton of leads, this is one.House: Duplex 3 bedrooms 1 bathroom downstairs/1 bedroom 1 bathroom upstairs, 2 stall detached garage, owner states not a lot of repairs needed (maybe $2,000 total)Current Rent: $1,225 totalHouse assessed at $96,000Current owner owes $52,000Wholesale offer (from our formula that would make sense for us to buy it wholesale): $53,000 cash - owner declined (too low)If we keep it to rent out do we get a hard or private money loan to purchase for a higher cash offer (we think he would take $70,000) and then take it to the bank after a certain amount of time to get a conventional loan because we will have almost 30% equity in it when we buy it?