Since this deal took no skin off my back, my plan for the next year is to grab another 4-12 unit with either seller or traditional financing next Jan/Feb, then when I'm eligible to use my VA loan again in May '16, I'll refi (or not) and use my remaining ~$160k or so in eligibility to purchase another 2-4 unit to live in for 0 down.

I recently transferred my Traditional IRA to a SD IRA Custodian.  

Purchase price of real estate increases by the same amount the value currency decreases.This accomplishes the first objective of protecting buying power.

I'm just passing along information that provides an overall perspective on parts of town that, regardless of your first-hand experiences, are traditionally not very good parts of town.  

Due to my Real Estate biz I will NOT qualify for a traditional mortgage UNTIL I have 1 year in the business in FL.

I found myself here after googling something about an Investopedia email (got an offer for an "Unlimited Funding Investor Kit") and realized I can learn everything here instead.I'm really new to investing and have only thought about investing in RE in the future, so I might not be active right now, but I bookmarked the page for later; I started trading currencies less than a month ago so I've been spending time learning the in's and out's of that one.Glad to be here and I hope to learn as well as teach!

Is there anything wrong with this process instead of doing a traditional closing with a title company?

We are planning our first investment to be traditional mortgage to get our feet wet and gain a solid grasp on that process.

My theory is that the risk of losing the $100 just doesn't outweigh the cost of getting title insurance and going the traditional route. 

And at the end of the day you received non-taxable cash in the form of additional debt.Your source of financing whether it is a bank, traditional refi lender or the former owner would be irrelevant.