No I'm keeping it in cash and avoiding debt right now, but thank you! 

A great place to start is https://www.biggerpockets.com/meet which you can use to find like-minded people in your area and every other market across the nation that you may consider.You'll find some helpful tips at https://www.biggerpockets.com/starthere.For tips on how to get the most out of BiggerPockets, check out: https://www.biggerpockets.com/rei/biggerpockets-com-tutorial/The BiggerPockets Keyword Alert System is an awesome tool: https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2012/12/1...See you on future threads!

You can get a car loan on your car or truck if you have a nice car with no debt. 

I would guess that this is a trend nation wide.

I can see the value in what you’re doing in the rural southeast—new construction in those areas has a lot of untapped potential, and I like how you’re handling the financing with Fannie Mae assumable loans and light debt.

So, some quick back of the napkin math for the theoretical turnkey scenario you described above:- Purchase price: $2.5 million- Down payment: $850K- Loan amount: $1.650 million - Gross Scheduled Income: $288K- Operating expense ratio: 35%- NOI: $178K- Debt service at 6.7% interest = $128K annually - Before tax cash flow = $47,1999 - Cash-on-cash Return in Year 1 = 5.55%A $47K / year return on an initial investment of $850K seems pretty modest, no?

Once either is setup, you can certainly direct the funds into real estate; buy properties directly, buy into other people's deals, invest in promissory notes and other debt investments.

He's doing the "student army" approach to get deal flow (across the nation) just as many other educators are. 

Combine that with some government austerity and the debt issue improves.

If you are reliant solely on alt. lenders because it is the only debt you are qualified to originate, it can become a vicious cycle.