@Deandre Lee in my market simply buying below market value and worsting the home will give you some equity.

The worst they can do is give you a Know with their No...You may just stumble into a deal, by the sheer numbers game, with a more motivated seller then originally anticipated that was overlooked by window shoppers...

I figure worst case scenario for the niece is a cash for keys type transaction.

You could increase your ROI by putting less down but you’re making some very basic mistakes. 

Using the filter function you can start deleting undesirable properties based on the numbers to get the list down to a manageable size.If there is no value in the building column then you are likely looking at vacant land.There should be a code in one column that tells you if a property is a house, mobile home lot, multifamily, store etc.I spend a lot of time narrowing down my list, then I look up what they look like online to eliminate more, then I drive by every property that I might bid on.I do this myself, I don't trust a VA for this work as I am spending a bunch of money and one mistake on a property could cost many thousands of dollars.

But I also generally am investing in pure cash flow markets (The Midwest...except for some recent investments in Phoenix).If you stay around that 2-3% range, what's the worst that can happen?

mistake for newbies 

The last thing I want is to make a crucial mistake!

@Will Fraser Yes my mistake, I meant 1.4.

I knew that worst case scenario i could easily make the monthly payments and pay off loan at the end of 5 years if needed.