My parents, being wonderful caring parents, purchased a large house in cash for little money through the family trust for us.

The only better theoretical move is to build a large entrepreneurial business in the meantime.

In the Great Recession, I saw large cabins selling for 25% of what they sold for just 2 years prior.  

I was in a similar situation when I first started ( mortgage was a large chunk of my salary) Thankfully I had friends that I was able to rent to that basically paid my mortgage and eventually my income increased enough where it was not an issue.what area of Denver are you looking at?

In terms of strong markets, I tend to look at major industries in an area (hospitals, universities, military, etc.) because I want a large tenant pool.

Both require a large down payment (50% or more) and it seems will not finance land/new construction.

As you note, there are good large syndicators and there can also be bad small syndicators, so it’s also a case by case evaluation. 

It is amazing what you can find in thrift stores and the like.Plus I put up a ton of large format photos fully framed.

After the sale of the company, we have:9-15 months of personal expenses in savings to live off ofStart with $100k cash and do micro flips to avoid the risk of a hard money lender and losing our tail if something doesn't go right or sell quick enoughOnce the house sells, reinvest all the cash back into the next flip and continue doing this until we are doing multiple flips at a time (he can manage 4 large projects at a time by himself, so we assume up to 4 active flips at a time eventually)Pros of doing this:No longer having to manage W2 employees/operations (this used to be my role but now that we have kids I want to stay home, not do this)Getting a larger chunk of cash to start flipping quicker vs waiting 1+ years to save enough cash for the first flipUsing cash reduces our risk of losing money with a hard money lender if the project takes longer to sell, rehab, etc.

Now, you can't do this with yourself, your business, and certain family members, due to the prohibited transaction rules governed by the tax code 4975. 2) Some individuals have large pre-tax 401ks that they rollover and then convert to the Roth IRA, paying the taxes now so they dont have to pay later out of the Roth.