Eric,
Real estate is tough, but if your risk tolerance is high, and you have a 780 credit score, you have some options. I had a client work with a group called Seek Capital in LA; they are pretty good at securing credit for business startups, so you would need to set up an LLC which you would likely do anyway if you want to do flips. Seek will get you some credit, but it will likely be partially/all through credit cards. My client wanted to partner on a flip in PIttsburgh, but had no income but had a 760 credit score and they got her 52K. A little work netted her 30K in cash and 22K in available credit on her cards, most of which was interest free for an extended period of time. Actually a little cheaper then hard money lenders; Seek kept a percentage and banks charged fees on the cash advances.
Not the ideal way to get in to real estate, or a safe way to go, but it is an option. I empathize with being between a rock and a hard place, I was there. If you want to buy a house, then by far the safest thing to do is get a job, keep your savings in place, and use your good credit score to qualify for a house. But if you hate your job, have a high tolerance for risk, and want to go all in.....
Once you have funds secured, you really need to partner with someone that has some cah/credit - or enough credit- to ensure you finish the project. It always takes longer and it always costs a bit more then estimated.
I would be happy to talk to you about partnering on a flip if you are interested and have funds to invest or if you are skilled in doing the actual renovation work. I have flipped 2 houses in Pittsburgh and we are starting flips 3 & 4 in the next two weeks.
Hard money lending is an option for you to. I have worked with Lima One and Barnet Capital. Both will only deal with an LLC. Lima One is probably a better option for reasons I would be happy to explain if you like. Barnett is awesome, but you have to have cash or assets in place to establish a line of credit with them, then you pay 15% down; the line makes it real easy to do multiple flips and use them for repeat business.
Cost with Lima One will be around 3 points, 12.99 interest, 10% down payment of your home purchase and reno budget. You will have to spend about 600 on the front end to get the property appraised, and the financed amount must not exceed 70% of the ARV. They may ask to see how much cash you will have in reserve. They will give you an interest only 12 month loan, so you have 12 months to close, fix and sell the property. During the renovation you will request a draw when you hit milestones. You will pay 125/inspection for someone to come out and verify the work is done. Lots of moving parts.
Sorry to write a book, but your candor and honesty of your post kind of got me going.
