Pay cash or finance?

[William Gunlogson]

Hello,

I'm just starting out with a partner in the Minneapolis/Saint Paul metro and our long term strategy is to accumulate SFR's and MFR's. Would like to purchase for < 70% of ARV and rehab. Would consider flipping if it's a home run, otherwise would buy and hold. Target SFR properties are in the $100k-$200k range, target duplexes are in the $175k-$300k range. If you had $200k in cash, would you get a conventional loan with 20% down or would you pay cash, rehab and then cash out re-fi?

Also, if you were just starting out and your goal was to build passive income and cash flow, would you target a cheap SFH for your first couple of deals to gain experience, then try to move on to the more expensive duplexes?

Thanks,

Bill