My 8 unit has made me realize the synergies (i.e. only 1 building to manage tenants and repairs on vs. many single/multi-families), vacancy buffer benefits, and opportunities to raise rents per door.Can anyone share their experience with me of moving to apartment complexes?  

For such a small amount, your title company may also allow you to close escrow with the amount in dispute plus a buffer withheld until the lien is removed and you agreeing to defend and indemnify the title company for its losses if the claimant actually attempts to perfect the lien.

Its a lot easier to pay the 3.5% down payment, leaving a repair buffer, then it is to pay the 25% down payment and leave that repair buffer.    

Best advice is to start as early as possible, keep reserves as a buffer, live below your means, and take the cash you make and re-invest in stuff that make you more cash.

There could’ve been so much more that we may have run into- we were lucky203K from offer to completion averages 9 month-12 months, we made the offer August, closed in February and moved in end of May however are completing siding in July.We purchased the majority of materials on our own so we could save money on bulk orders, not have to pay the contractors for their time tracking everything down and to get the airline miles- while this was good, communicate for the contractor to buffer some materials as I missed out on this.During the process when items were completed we would contact the hud consultant and he would come do an inspection.

@Dawn Young - Sorry for all the posts but I wanted to add to your list of possible expenses:Engineering Fees, survey, local entity's application fees for development, building permits, parking lot paving (some areas require pavement rather than gravel), stormwater permit fees, stormwater ponds (the design is included in the engineering fees), underlying soil corrections if your property is on peat-y soils or poorly drained land, wetland delineation, building structure engineering, worker's comp insurance if you hire someone (probably not in this scenario), legal fees for an attorney to write/review your lease, legal fees for attorney to guide you through the process of eviction (often called a 'lien sale' in SS circles), landscaping buffers (yes, I've had to install trees to buffer vehicular traffic - that reminds me, one of those trees are dead and I need to replace it. 

I love that concept of beating the issues to the punch and already knowing the vast majority of what’s going on before and the pre negotiation in the contract to be a buffer for the few unknowns that may/may not come up.

After complete rehab I should be all in at $270,000 ($170,000 purchase and $100,000 rehab cost that includes a 20% buffer for unexpected overtures during rehab) ARV is $325-$350,000.

So the buffer is 600 per month before accounting for maintenance and vacancies at 250 per unit per month. 

Living off flip income is a separate subject - I hope you have a sufficient buffer to wait out any delays in renovation and/or sale.