My 2 cents: You're young, you could get a real estate or real estate adjacent 9-5 so you can get paid to to learn more about real estate while learning and building the side hustle outside of business hours.Seems like you live in a major US market so that's a plus, you could get a tenant services coordinator job in commercial real estate making $40-60k (not sure if that's more or less than what you are making now) It's an Entry level role, anyone with a degree and a polished resume and a passion for real estate should have a decent shot at landing a job like this.

Legitimate lenders may charge a small application fee (around $250) to verify you’re serious, but if someone’s asking for thousands with no real intention of closing, that’s a huge red flag.On a more positive note, there are creative financing approaches out there.

(I mean Special Financing Company)...Since REI Hame Changers has chosen to associate themselves with such a s***** business, I would never touch them with a 10-ft pole...On Monday , January 6, 2025, I am going to open up a huge can of whup *** on these people...First I will file fraud charges at my bank to stop any further payments .Then I will personally drive to Missouri if I have to to get my money back.They ( REI and special financing company)will then be charged for everything to do with that trip-Plus I will sue them for the substantial lost wages because I have to deal with this-!!

In my experience, the good ones are expensive, typically require a subscription, and sometimes they even do a physical inspection of your premises to verify it is a legitimate person / business in US.

What documents do they require, what credit scores do they allow, how do they verify previous rental history, etc.?

Verifying last 2 years of rental history very important!

Forums are great and all, but verify with the bank.

If anyone can verify that Maricopa does not publish this data online, that would be very much appreciated.

Again check to verify that this information is correct.

[Milestone 2 and payment amount].Retainage: [Insert percentage, if applicable].Final payment will be made upon satisfactory completion of the work, as verified by the Contractor.4.