Newbie needs help understanding finance options on a real-life scenario

[George B.]

Hello all,

My name is George. I'm a young guy who has discovered a passion for real estate, I've been reading the forums and articles for a while, I LOVE this site, and I'm finally ready to begin investing! :D But I need your help.

There are two, 2-family properties I am interested in purchasing right now. Let's call them Property A and Property B:

Property A

• Short Sale
• List price: 165,000
• My intended offer: 110,000
• Very minor work required (mainly cleaning and painting)

Property B

• Not a short sale
• List price: 148,000
• My intended offer: 140,000 (seller is not very negotiable)
• No work required

Both properties will cash flow, pass the 50% rule, etc. Originally, before I educated myself, I thought, "oh, I'll just buy Property B as an FHA property with 3% down and put in an offer on Property A...and since short sales usually take much longer to close, I will have at least 5% to close on Property A as a conventional 5% property in the event that the bank accepts my offer" :) HA! -- Now that I am educated, I realize I need at least 20% down to buy Property A.

Unless I hit the lotto, there is virtually no chance I could have ~$22,000 in a few months to buy Property A.

My questions for you all are:

1. Can I buy both of these properties?
2. If so, is there another way for me, a rookie, to buy Property A with much less than 20% or, dare I say, NO money down?
3. Do you have any other creative suggestions for me?

Thanks in advance and sorry for the long post!