How low money down can I go?

[Thomas Krajewski]

Hi!  I'm new to the real estate investment game.  I'm looking at getting a first time homebuyer loan for a property where I will live in one side and rent out the other.  I found a bank where I can get a loan as low as 3% down and I plan on using my 401k as a downpayment to cover that (my retirement company allows that with no penalties).

I'm in the process of starting a second job and I don't have a lot of money in the bank.  I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions on how I could possibly handle the costs of any closing costs or repair costs.

I was thinking that I could offer more money if the seller agreed to pay all closing costs and if repairs were needed maybe I could do two offers, one where I pay them more and they do the repairs and one where I pay less contingent on me getting a property improvement loan.