Well i ended up purchasing an RV and renting that out for 600$ a month + a sec deposit. 

- Appraisal gaps- Increase contract deposit amountIn other markets; people shorten inspection/due diligence periods, pay seller's closing costs (i.e. transfer taxes), offer to pay a higher EMD.That said, the best 'tactic' is knowing your #s, knowing how to underwrite the deal, AND knowing how to establish a relationship with the other party (i.e. seller, seller's broker, wholesaler, etc.). 

This includes offering incentives, lowering the rate and offering flexible security deposit alternatives.

I'm curious about this also, I've been testing Stessa but it's not intuitive and I keep finding weird glitches that make it almost more work than just entering transactions manually.At some point I found it had automatically added a full security deposit return after a move-out, despite me not having manually entered it nor there being a bank transaction - so I contacted Customer Service and then forgot about it because I was testing other software.

Either offer them a non-refundable deposit if you fail to close and they get rid of the tenant or move on. 

Confirm Rent Roll + Property-Level DataMatch lease agreements, deposits, and collected rents to your books.

Only move forward if they communicate clearly and offer milestone-based payments instead of big deposits.

Paid off the heloc and deposited the difference in IRAs.

As mentioned by others, there are a few things to take into account.Here are the financing options and requirements based on the # of units:2-4 unit - Residential propertyMin 20% downDSCR 1.0+ (lower DSCR with higher down payment)No experience OR net worth requirement2-8 unit mixed use (commercial space can't exceed 49%)Min 25% downDSCR 1.2+Need to have investor experience of at least 1 yrNo net worth requirement5-10 unit - Residential propertyMin 25% downDSCR 1.2+No experience OR net worth requirement 10+ unit - Residential property (mixed used is possible)Min 20% downDSCR - Dependent on market size - can range from 1.25 - 1.5+At least 1 sponsor has to have investor experience - multi-unit of approx similar size OR multiple smaller multi units adding up to at least 12 unitsCombined net worth of all sponsors should be greater than the loan amount - this is after the down payment and closing costs, and not counting equity in primary.

A lot of new supply hit the market recently.We’ve had a decent amount of new apartment construction come online over the last few years.