We live in San Diego and I have realized that buying here in this market will definitely not cash flow so considering Midwest as well as other options.

Needs a place to park cash!

That way you can use that 2% to do a rate buy down to ensure a better cash flow.If you are buying it as a Primary owner occupancy I would ask for 3-4% seller credit to cover rate buy down and a portion of closing costs.

I don't mean the following to sound discouraging, but I would encourage you to be extremely cautious and conservative before buying a random property in Dayton because someone - a property manager, an agent, the seller of the property, some random person on BP - tells you it's a 'great deal,' and you will 'cash flow.'  

You could sell for cash even for $20k less and put that money into private lending and get 10-12% which over 15 or 20 years would crush the returns you would get with this deal.

We made a quick cash offer and gave the owner 30 days to allow her to move out since the deal was done quickly.

Doesn't let them even do debt investing for the cash income for their retirement.But, still it depends if they need the cash. 

@David McFarlandI would suggest cash for keys.

It is my understanding that it would be mutually beneficial for him to put all or much of his earnings towards closing costs to lower our cash out of pocket for closing.

*Each zip code above has an ROI of 7% or higher, resulting in a higher probability of finding cash flowing properties