You don’t have to pay $20k+ to learn to broker loans. 

Can you be financially free, sure, consider if you are buying real estate you will no longer have stable income to get a loan.

I financed the deal with a conventional loan and bought down the rate from 7.75 to 6.25.

This money gets added onto the back of the loan kind of like a VA funding fee does. 

And 3 foreclosures are at an all time low because servicers and banks realized after the GFC workouts are far superior to foreclosure so at worse if they miss payments it will be like Covid these sevicers will add missed payments and extend their mortgages..

Financing options do exist: hard money loans, renovation loans, and some traditional mortgages can be used on distressed properties if criteria are met.

Personally, I'd cash-out refinance into a 30 or 15 year loan.

If he has a $5MM loan in place, what was that used for / is it coming due/ was it short term/ etc.?

Assuming since you did any FHA loan, this was a househack?

.🔹 Creative Financing – Traditional loans don’t always work for distressed properties.