What do the numbers look like on a potential sale?

Review the seller’s maintenance records to identify any existing issues or potential problems.Do your financial analysis to factor in the current rent, estimated vacancy rate, maintenance costs, property taxes, and insurance to determine the property's projected cash flow.

This scenario forecasts a potential 9.85% cash-on-cash return for an all-cash investment.

rent by the room, rent by the unit (small MF), rent out an ADU, etc.If you plan on renting by the room, then maybe more square footage and potential rooms to rent.If it is small multi-family, then you can look at similar size rentals to see what their market rates are or use programs like Rentometer.com or BP rental rate calculator. 

The potential for farm price escalation is getting smaller and smaller.  2.  

Im in a rather expensive city but future appreciation looks great still.

The initial investment is providing a loan, there is no tax write off.Similiarly, there is no income recorded when you receive the loan proceeds back.The only time there may be a potential write-off of the original loan amount is if the borrower is not able to pay it back.

Needs to be part of the complete transaction, otherwise you are encouraging the buyer to potentially commit loan fraud....and they should not want to do that, and if you are licensed you don't want them to do that...and even if you are not licensed, you don't want them to do that. 

Work with a real estate agent Make sure to thoroughly check out potential properties by conducting inspections, condition assessments, financial analysis, and reviewing zoning regulations.

Even with future income to offset the mortgage, I would not expect a lender to underwrite a SFH as an income producing property like they would for a multifamily property.