Want to start investing but can't get approved

[Alick Patrick]

Hi! I'm a newbie. I had two properties that went into foreclosure or short sale 6 years ago during the housing market crash. Up until last weekend I didn't think I can get another property again but due to an unexpected incident a broker run my credit and told me that I am qualified to get a property--with 3.5% down! Thus, I started looking. To cut the story short, I ran into a thread here at BiggerPockets and saw a real estate investor that have properties at TN for $80,000 or that can generate good cash flow. I was surprised because I'm from L.A. so the cheap properties I've been seeing are on the $200,000 range. With that price minus just the 3.5% down payment that I'll be putting down I don't see much cash flow coming out of the properties.

I know it will be my first real investment property and there may be a lot of problems having to have a property management company manage a property that is not local to me but I'm willing to take that risk for now. I prefer that risk over the risk of purchasing an expensive property in L.A. with little to no income being generated.

Anyway, so I called the guy and was sold to make a purchase. I asked him if he knows any lender that can assist me with a loan because the broker that told me I was approved said I am only approved for properties around Los Angeles. He gave me a couple of lenders and I started to work with them. So far one stated that he cannot approve me because my foreclosure fiasco 6 years ago is still on my credit report, and the other has been unresponsive after I provided her all the information she needs so I'm assuming now that I am also not approved.

Can someone please kindly advice me if there are other options I can take to get approved for a property in TN? Actually, any state would do too. If you have cheap income generating properties to sell and know of a lender that may be able to approve me at your state please advice.