I am looking at a tri-plex for buy and hold that has been on MLS for almost a year. 

My plan is to get a property with minor cosmetic issues and fix these issues up and hold onto the property to establish a steady cash flow and hopefully some appreciation.

@Samson Tefera turn it into a rental. hold for X months - to a year . . . sale and 1031.If you are invested cash into the deal you can also refi and use to cash to continue investing while you wait to sell your flip-rental.Best of luck

Yes Mike, ground floor rolls everything into the loan, which helps keep holding costs low.

I have a 5 x 8 utility trailer that is handy as hell , its light , easy to load and holds quite a bit .

First they do have a lease, verbal holds up in court, and M2M is the best lease you could have.Your options are to either have the seller provide vacant occupancy or you wait and give them notice of non renewal as soon as you become the owner.

There are many advantages to holding real estate in your IRA.

I think long term we are way less volatile than some California markets (as seen in the last downturn) so there is some sense of security holding through whatever is to come - in my opinion.     

I wrote an article on financing methods for buy and hold a while back that you might find helpful: https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2014/10/29/the-ultimate-list-of-ways-to-finance-buy-and-hold-property/

Now I am thinking maybe we should hold off on building and buy a few homes to flip with that money instead.