if someone needs to borrow a few grand that's a pretty shaky situation.. 

I love doing these types of deals—not only because most people avoid them, but also because it’s rewarding to help sellers in these situations.

Somewhere in the middle is likely your best bet for a 20 year timeline.I have almost 50 units here myself and that's about what my portfolio is cash flowing at this point combined LTV is around 65% as loans have gotten paid down and values have went up.

I think your goal of getting your first RE investment for around $50k is doable as long as you plan to leverage debt (Loan). 

By definition, these type of loans are not the same quality as what is traded on wall street. 

Use Real Estate By the Numbers as your guide, make sure it tracks the loan pay down and depreciation and have all of those numbers pour into a Schedule E.

You've got to include loan pay down, appreciation, and depreciation in your return calculations.The point of cash flow is to keep you safe.

Focus on understanding the rental market, conducting thorough property inspections, and leveraging owner-occupied financing options like FHA loans.

Buy and holds is the key to true wealth with all the benefits of depreciation, appreciation, loan pay down by your tenants, leveraging the equity, cash-flow etc etc, but it often times isn't the active income that pays the bills until you build up a portfolio and even then there's the tenant management or managing your property managers.That's why I'm involved in all 3.

@Enrique Toledo  If the seller is firm at 10% down, you can always get a personal loan for that 10%.