With rent from one or two rooms totaling about $2,275/month, the calculator shows a negative cash flow of around $885/month before refi and $568/month after.Here’s the thing — those numbers look bad only if you treat this like a pure investment property.

Lately, we've been doing Pure Life Water, Kind Breakfast Bar, microwave popcorn, and a Moon Pie Mini (Moon Pies are from Chattanooga, our market). 

But from a purely financial analysis perspective this is where I'd start as it relates to deal analysis.  

It gets you in with less cash and teaches you how to manage a property.If you’re set on going the pure investment route and local numbers stay too tight, consider investing out of state in smaller, more affordable markets.

If the buyer pays for a purchase option now, the entire reason for this would be to lock in a price lower than the expected future price, which is the expected appreciation.You mentioned rent to own - Are you seller financing this to the buyer, or is it purely a purchase option?

The key is how you structure it.You could absolutely buy it as a primary residence (since one of you will live there) — that keeps your financing rate lower than if you bought it purely as an investment.

I guess my biggest question is, is this some place you claim to use or is it purely an investment vehicle?

I'd still paint the walls and trim a shade of white like Sherwin Williams Pure White or Snowbound and if you want a light grey as suggested above, the go to is Sherwin Williams Agreeable Grey.

I would like to reach $10K/mo in pure cashflow in the near future.

SFH will sell on a pure comp basis, but MF will attract investors looking for yield.