When we looked into it, the $30-40k that we were going to apply to it would only decrease the payment by a couple hundred dollars a month.

The cap rate is NOI (net operating income)/ Price of the property.With Leverage (calculated over 1 year): (NOI-(Cost of the loan))/($ down) = Leverage Adjusted Cap Rate or COC (cash on cash return)Depending on the interest rate of the loan, you can have a decrease in leveraged cap rate or an increase. 

Being local to the Northern Virginia (NoVA - WashDC suburbs) markets, the prices are relatively high and generally out of my $275k pricing budget.Originally i was looking for a condo in reston and other desirable areas (arlington, vienna, etc), however the condo fees can range from 200s to 600s+/mo. this will likely decrease the cash flow and therefore may not work.  

While it may be a bit counter intuitive there is such low supply that despite the increasing prices the total dollars has decreased. 2) As everyone else has said, house hack if you can in any way scrape together the funds to buy.

too much to explain here, but a deduction doesn't decrease your tax directly. 

Neither of you would want this.I would then have an eviction attorney serve the proper (3) or (5) day notice or whatever is appropriate, and do so over their letterhead so that she knows you're ready should a cooporerstive move-out not occur.In future, have a separate and distinct document signed that decreases the seller's cash due to delays at a rapid rate.if the value of rent is $100/day, double or triple the potential damages should your next seller delay.I figured out some time ago that people are going to do what they want to.

This is not to say that multifamily can't have big gains, because it is very possible to drive up rents, decrease expenses, or add extra flows of income (such as laundry or extra storage) to a larger multifamily which pushes up the price of that multifamily apartment complex.  

I think homeowners are willing to go down in price once they know you have a cash buyer (list) if it's about a 5% - 15% decrease.  

That's a pretty significant decrease in the purchase price ~%33 and ultimately your ROI.2.

Are there any expenses which stand out which can be decreased?