If you decide to move forward with a cash-out refi later, I can help with that.

While this means you might miss out on the profits from leveraging, you can refinance later and negotiate lower costs since you are buying with cash.

If I went to the investor and said "hey, I'll pay you $x amount per month to keep living here with the intention of buying it later" would that be an attractive offer?

Look up my history, look back to what I was WARNING early into covid, of no collapse, of no don't wait for some BS "reset" buy now or cry later.

If your goal is to build wealth that you can access later, that's one path.

They generally stay in place for a lot longer and you don't have to worry as much about late rent.

Consider all the things that could go wrong and see if the lease addresses them: unauthorized pets or tenants, early termination, security deposit, lease violations, late rent, eviction, lawn maintenance, parking, etc.5.

Most is "CYA" doc's so nothing comes back after the fact, months or years later, to bite one in the arse.     

Then, a year later, they reversed course.

Some investors buy in their name and transfer properties to an LLC later, though this may trigger due-on-sale clauses.