Looking for creating financing options

[Christian Penny]

Hello! I'm am looking to get into real estate investment and purchasing a first property some time this year. However, I'm concerned about the 20 to 25% down payment required for most loans. I'm in Madisonville, LA which is north of New Orleans and with the research I've done so far, I'm thinking that in order to find a property in this area that can produce a decent cash flow I'd need to invest around $100k in a property, minimum. Therefore, I'd be looking at $20k down payment for most conventional loans which is more than I'm willing to come out of pocket (I'm also considering things like maintenance reserve cash and rehab cash that would increase my out of pocket costs). I thought that perhaps getting a home equity loan or refinancing my home would generate cash for a down payment but those options are no good because I've only been in my home for 6 months and don't have enough equity in it yet (banks I've talked to require minimum 85% LTV). Refinancing is not wise right now with high interest rates. So, I'm struggling to know what other options there are for financing that would require less out of pocket cash. Would appreciate any advice.