In my experience, you can absolutely use hard money in bank owned reo auctions...you still don't generally get access and thus need a lender who does need an appraisal in this scenario. 

The rest of us have no investment with Norada but do have experience with Raising money  running PPM's and Syndication's and we are all entitled to our opinions on the matter and that's all they are.

In our view, experience and integrity are by far the most important parts of any private loan.

Given you and your investor both have experience in different areas, I’d say keep a flexible approach and compare city requirements before putting too much money down.

It happens, which is why I'm posting this story so others can learn from my experience.  

Experience?) 

In my experience as an agent (and long before an investor) people who are ROI driven and don't come with a passion for brick and mortar do not succeed in REI. 

If you’re able to dive deep or work with someone who has boots-on-the-ground experience, the returns can be very rewarding.Good luck with your journey, and feel free to reach out if you’d like more insights or resources on Detroit!

No experience in Brooklyn but there are a lot of programs out there for rental assistance.

A renter for a stand alone rowhome is usually a different profile from a large apartment complex renter in my experience.