Buy now on loan or Buy later with cash?

[Brock Y.]

So I am able to save around 7K/month. Most of that goes into stocks right now but I have decided to look at SFRs (I own a few duplexes). I only have about 10k in savings and was wondering if I should wait 3-4 months to purchase a 40k SFR cash or should I try to seek out private/hard money? (Conventional is out since I have less than stellar credit, around 690 due to a job loss in 2010 and getting behind on bills).

No issue on income, No issue on DTI, Just a less than stellar credit score. Thoughts?