I have the exact same question, and nice to see brilliant minds think alike @Joe Fairless ;)

Good stuff, So what I am thinking is using cash for my initial purchase for myself...hoping for a nice duplex.

Interesting side notes-1) the two current tenants are longterm 4+ years, but are also not clean and tidy at all.2) there are several very nice houses in this neighborhood, but the one next door is condemned (in tax default), and a house a couple blocks over has been destroyed completely by fire.3) Comps of SF and MF homes are all over the place in the area and it's pretty much impossible to get comps on this type of unit even going back 2 years.Any suggestions on how I should factor the current tenants, neighborhood, comps or empty unit potential???

As a current member of CFRI it is nice to see familiar faces here.

Nice to see another Michigan investor.

I'm in the military, so we have dreams of renting this place out when I get transferred, buying a new one, and so on.In my perfect fantasy world, this method could yield me 3-4 nice single family homes by my mid 30s (in 10 yrs), a good passive income stream by my mid 40s (20 yrs), and a solid retirement foundation for 55+.I have a ton of research to do and this site looks awesome.

I spoke to a nice woman at the PA state real estate licensing office over the phone today and she seemed to think it would be as simple as me finishing the course, submitting the paperwork (and fee of course), and finding a PA broker.

Save up that cash and work towards a nice down payment on a multi.

But not a bad rate..If he doesn't want to drop pre-payments and you really want the financing (and you plan on holding), try to negotiate a declining prepayment penalty for the first few years when you expect it will have no impact on you.If he's trying to invest money 30 years at 6% secured by real estate, send him my contact info and I'll give him a nice fat note secured by my CA property and give him pre-payment penalties for the first 10-15 years..

It will be a nice home for the area, but not top of the line.