From the podcasts, it sounds like the BRRR strategy works well but I'm not looking to get that active.

My goal is to get 8-10% net cap rate for a long term (20-30 years), I'm still considering few strategies, To invest in a big and stable city like Jacksonville to buy a old house (1960-1980) in not so good neighborhood and give it to a property management company to take car of the properties or to go to a medium city like Gainesville but will still need a local property management or it will be better for me to invest in a new construction in a small city like Ocala (I know there is a lot of development in the area) and I can also manage it myself.

I try to secure motivated sellers who own properties free and clear, and my exit strategy is Assignment of Contract.

We are actively looking and I will be glad to discuss our investing strategy.

My niche is small multi-family properties by now, and my strategy is to buy and hold.

Could get away with around 200k in my small pocket.I love this business.

The only time you could get away with not having it is if you have many, many units and can self-insure but you'd still want a large liability policy.

Your "strategy" (aka common sense) of saving up capital is very smart, do whatever it takes to save as much as you can if you are serious about investing.

Or should we just move to our second exit strategy - refinance and rent?  

We bought it at a 7+ cap so sale price was essentially price adjusted for the assumption.I would run two scenarios get the actually yield maintenance $ amount and add it to the purchase price and see what your model looks like after placing new debt and what your model looks like if the lender will give you a supplemental.What's your exit strategy and timeline?