If you can find the deals you should be able to buy at a discount and put some lipstick on them.

Payments that you make normally fall into one of 3 buckets100% of the payment can be factored in somewhere on the returnPartial payment can be factored somewhere on the return0% of the payment can be factored in somewhere on the returnHouse-hacking also has considerable tax implications in the event that you want to sell this property.You can potentially defer a portion or all of the gain on the investment property with 1031 exclusion.You can potentially exclude a portion or all of the gain on the personal residence with section 121 exclusion

If you need to sell fast, you can forget it unless you take a deep discount.  

In the winter I make the extra effort to advertise more places, and I sometimes offer incentives to encourage responses (e.g. discount on 2nd month's rent).

Darren:I know of folks who have used these loans to buy vacation properties (which some of them rent out when they are not using them), but no one else who has explicitly purchased a 2-4 unit as exclusively a rental.We used the Canadian LoC because the CAD was at parity with the USD and LoC was at prime (3.0%) a full 2.0% better than the mortgage rate we were quoted.

I paid $1138.80 (discounted rate) to get rid of those 7 tons via dumpsters.

@James DeRoestNew Equity can easily be created from buying property at discount, raising rents and making improvements.Principle payments is taking your cash and paying down debt.  

If you're using conventional financing you need to document 30% equity in your current primary that you're vacating in order to use 75% of gross rents from the tenant that will be renting your current home.You can document it by ordering an appraisal which is 450-700 dollars with rent survey attachment to the appraisal or you can sometimes do an AVM - automated valuation model which is usually free or a drive by appraisal with some banks which is usually 100-200 dollars.Some banks (portfolio non conventional) will all you to use gross rental income either discounted at 75% of face value or full 100% against your full PITIA (current residence) if you put down 20-25% on the new property.with FHA you can use gross rental income up to 85% of gross against PITIA when looknig to buy a new property assuming your current mortgage is not a FHA loan which you'd then have to adhere to 2nd primary/FHA rules/exceptions.You can see how these general questions on BP get answered so non nonchalantly however the depth of the answer really depends on your goals, your plans, and financing tools in use, and working with someone who actually understands not only the financing semantics and the investing objectives.

I want to confirm that I am eligible for the partial capital gains exclusion. 

I let a friend stay in our rental for the last nine month for a discounted rent to get on his feet.