Buy and renovate the property and in 6 months do a simple cash out refinance and pull out some cash and start the REI process all over again.I am North of you up in Pinellas County West of Tampa and there are also some great places up here that might save you some cash. 

Starting with a smaller property or a few fix-and-flip projects can help you build equity, gain credibility with lenders, and better understand the process before scaling up.Securing funding for larger projects can be challenging without prior experience, but options like hard money loans might be worth exploring.

My suggestions would be in this order:(a) Determine the type of financing you qualify for - this will short cut the process considerably and save time on investment angles and next steps.

Once you have a deal they will guide you through the process and even help you attain the funding with out coming out of pocket or using your personal credit.

@Julie Doke: Industry specific software speaks to you and you can easily relate it to your day to day process.

The process was fairly smooth for me.

If he’s open to it, that could reduce the upfront capital you’d need while making the process a lot smoother.

I’m happy to guide you through the process, share some success stories, and help you avoid common rookie mistakes. 

The lender will require that you live in it for 12 months and then you can rent out all of the units after that and start the buying process using the same strategy all over again after that 12 month period.  

If you need to obtain it, how difficult will that process be?