How to afford more than one down payment a year? (My first post!)

[Chris Giuseppini]

... Other than hard money. A lot of people I've heard on the podcast do hard money, and as a newbie + not purchasing homes in deplorable condition, I'm wondering how to pay less. 

I'm doing math, and PMI Is really sucking money out in all of my calculations to a degree that I can't even understand. I've done rough guesses of 3.3% of a mortgage payment and for some reason its siphoning more than I'd have thought after my calculations. While listening to podcasts, I keep this in mind, hoping to find the answer, but it's not clear to me. I think I just need a doink in the head.

The options I've seen are hard money + Rehab, BRRR, Pay PMI. Is there anything else to consider? I live in a NY/NJ market. So the $100,000 homes are in need of repair. I'm targeting homes between $180-230k.

Thanks so much for your time. I hope this was specific enough.