One of the biggest expenses for multis is water and sewer-as often as not it is overlooked completely!

The seller cost at this price point should be in the ~$800-$1,000 range + possible other expenses (not costs) such as pro-rated taxes. 

Well, I've been fortunate enough to have an expensive, I mean extensive education, but wracked up a LOT of debt in the process.

If the tenant is paying their own utilities, do we include our utilities in expenses while determining the cash flow?

Therefore, a partnership makes sense so that the entire 8-units and commercial space is run by one entity which splits the income and expenses appropriately.Since my wife doesn't want to engage in a direct business relationship with my brother, she would prefer for us to purchase the properties seperately; how would you suggest to organize this purchase so that both parties are satisfied?

Wet basements can be very expensive to fix.

However, your expenses are not what I would consider conservative.  

As a general rule, however, you will want 25% of the purchase, another 3-5% of the purchase for closing and financing expenses and 9 months of loan payments for reserves.

Because I can spend 40k on a paint job (if I wanted to) and no lender would cover that expense under delayed financing exception loan on top of my purchase price.

Jacksonville has 30 plus residential zip.codes. to keep it simple I tell out of area investors to stick to the Jax 322 zip codes that border the 320 zip codes by 1 or 2.West of the river will be less expensive than east of the river going toward the ocean.