Confused - Finance a Down Payment through a Private Lender?

[Zach Norris]

Hey! I'm very excited to be starting my real estate career and am looking at buying my first rental property as soon as I can. I've been reading a ton of the information on BiggerPockets but still find myself without a solid understanding on the specifics of using money from a private lender / investor to finance a down payment for a rental property. 

Somewhere, I read / heard that it wasn't a bad idea for my first purchase to talk to family members about maybe taking a loan out of their retirement account to lend me, which I would pay back with interest. Is this a legitimate route I can take in order to acquire funding for my first down payment? If so, how does that actually work? 

Thanks for any / all responses and advice!!!

[Chris Mason]

Originally posted by @Zach Norris:

Hey @Chris Mason, thanks for your response. What's the reason they aren't usable? Is there any way around it to make it work?

 The Fannie guideline says so. Not without fraud, no.