Buying a property and renting it out (option 2) is not likely to cash flow enough to really concern yourself with saving on your rent; not right away anyhow.   

We figured that chances were very low of encountering a burned down condo or one with extreme structural issues.

There are ways to get started with out this solid base but the chances of success is extremely low.

Also, I'm sure the bank is going to be concerned with the leases expiring immediately after closing.So, what is the preferred way to get new leases according to my terms prior to closing, and keep the bank happy?

One concern with a 401k loan is if you were to get laid off or fired it would have to be paid back immediately or you pay the ~10% or whatever it is penalty plus taxes.

I've read here about some hard money lenders that will lend 90% of the purchase price and 100% of the reno, but I'm also concerned about points. 

Our multi-family inventory is indeed extremely limited. 

But for me, my main concern's are 1 they don't trash the place and 2, they pay on time.   

Ideas range from automation, full applications, search tools, tracking tools, etc.It would be great to hear others experiences, concerns, and bottlenecks.

I know that the extra set of () will allow you to use non-contiguous cells in the calculation and excel will see everything inside as a range of cells for the calculation.If all the above is correct, my thought is that I should be adding the sale proceed to the final year cash flow from operating the property (E1+E3) and then using the result to calculate IRR.If I try something like this is get an error: =IRR((A1:E1+E3))With the first forumla above, my concern is that it is interpreting cell E3 as separate cash flow from a subsequent period, rather than occurring in the same period as the final operating cash flow.