The home inspection came back with so many items needing repair that my son thought all home inspections were written in red ink (red means repair needed.)If buying as a owner, not investor, there is a lead paint provision that will help you rehab the lead paint for up to $4000 (they will rebate that costs to you) or let you out of the contract if the lead paint estimate is more that $4000 to remediate.

Fortunately I have reserves that I can comfortably live on for some time while I build up not only my rental portfolio but also obtain my RE license and start pursuing deals.Everyone's financial situation is different.

I am interested in wholesaling properties to build up some capital to reinvest into rental properties.

Still plenty of lease option opportunities out there and you can build up your war chest and tie up the sale prices today.Another thing to consider is if your a great leasing person you can jack up your income by getting master leases on properties that owners may want to rent out to help out.

CA is getting the ink but it happens everywhere and will continue to happen.

I'm in 100% agreement with J Scott.We use yellow legal paper and a red ink pen.

The flip side, however, is that the reason I'm renting it at all is to build up a cache to pay for dad's assisted-living facility once his LTC insurance runs out in three years...

So, it may take some searching to find the right bank.If you're intention is to build up a large portfolio, and the properties truly cash flow with the loan payment, maybe you want to use the cash they're generating to add to your portfolio rather than paying them down.

If not, I'm thinking I'll have to start considering flipping as a way to build up the capital to continue to add good cash flowing rentals (i.e. flip one, use the 20k towards the dp to add a rental that still cash flows $300 or more).

Just hang in there and over time you will have equity buildup and hopefully the housing market will pick back up.