I know for sure once you alert them they may want to come in and do walk through of the entire property to see what kind of improvements were made over the years that weren't taken into consideration.

The opportunity to sell and improve the quality of my portfolio had begun to outweigh the option of holding any longer.

In this case I used the Realtor as a middleman because the interaction between the seller and I was not the best way to go about negotiating interest rates, terms, and the seller building confidence in me to make the payment and not have to worry about me foreclosing on the property.

Ideally we'd like the investor to get his money back + interest in 3-6 months and be able to leverage any tax breaks from the depreciation and repair (not improvements) BUT we don't want him to have his name on the deed or anything.  

Make sure you're improving your financial position now though. 

As you keep reading on here, listening to the podcasts, and networking with local investors you'll have more confidence to not be scared of hard money :-)

For example, if it increases cash flow enough to pay for itself over 5 years, and the market CAP is 10%, it will, by definition, increase the value of the property (from a strictly income approach appraisal perspective) by double the cost of the improvement.

My wife and I are on the same page and really want to take our time finding a deal that works in a location that improves my commute and can pull decent rent for the one unit while we live in the other and both once we move on.We have about $15-20k liquid right now which I know isn't nearly enough.  

My real estate career has giving me the knowledge, confidence and the monies to do this. 

Shanaa,How do you compare you confidence and competent level approaching things that is new.That's where you begin once you find the real answer your on your way to mastering your real estate investment goals.No doubt you'll do find!!