North side of Mke is golden!

I'm beginning to wonder if this is something that simply varies per lender or if I've missed the golden era of house hacking.

That being said I estimate there is about 30-50k worth of work to bring it up to the level of the comps in the area.My wife and I are not rich but we have no debt, we have 250K in our retirement, I have a pension I am vested in and we have about money tied up in investments that we can if need be make liquid.I have been working with a mortgage broker friend and he says we are golden to purchase anytime but I don't want to go the traditional route with 20% cash and here is the strategy question.  

Keep posting, keep learning, keep a thick skin and keep us posted...the membership will slam or support your decisions, you will like certain members' opinions one day and not the next and, in the end, you will find a few golden nuggets of information.

Golden information my friend!

So my golden question is...how did you guys personally invest in real estate and what tips do you have for new guys like me who have read a ton of books over the past years with no hope still?

Far less risky to "live life now" than hope you are still on this earth to live it in your golden years.My apologies if this is not exactly the kind of response you were looking for...but I hope you will find some value/motivation in my story.

That is golden.  

@James PhillipsWow, those are GOLDEN NUGGETS: "If you can get to the heart of another, they're more interested in what you have to say." 

It sounds like the OP is getting a nice lesson in The Golden Rule:-He who has the gold makes the rulesWhat can you learn from this situation?