With FHA loans, there is a self sufficiency test.

Most houses cannot be bought at a price sufficient to cash flow.

We've touched on this prior to the 'settlement' that today lenders essentially allow the real estate commissions to be rolled into the buyer's transaction by appraising for a price sufficient to cover the RE fees.

I don’t believe 10k is sufficient enough to really do a deal on one’s own for the most part.

Given that the borrower had given us sufficient time to complete the loan processing and clear all title conditions, we were able to arrange the financing with one of our multi-family lenders at a rate that was actually lower than the prevailing rate when the borrower initially contacted us.

Not a super-helpful answer I know, but the options are pretty vast!

You don't need anything significant drawn up for the loan agreement either, a verbal agreement may be fine or just an email exchange can be sufficient (you could sign if you realllllly wanted to). 

My guess - the vast majority work part time.

The vast majority of owners in my market live and manage their properties from at least 3 states away and have great success. 

If the person who emailed you has the authority to release the agreement, then I'd say the email is sufficient