After those two deals, I think I owe my realtor and his wife a gift card for a steak dinner!

Also, in this specific area there aren’t much duplexes.The reserves were in the stock market because some of the money was from gift when my grandfather passed away when I was a kid.

FHA allows 3.5% down on 1-4 units...UNLESS YOU HAVE A NON-OCCUPANT CO-SIGNER.And so, my loan officer worked for about 10 days to find another appraiser who was willing to categorize the property as a single family (again, that’s how it was zoned with the county, and because of the layout, locking or unlocking one door at the base of the stairs makes either the entire home accessible to one family, or splits it into separate units.)The seller agreed to wait for this appraisal, and luckily, the new appraiser classified the property as an SFR, but once the loan got to underwriting, the FHA-board decided that due to the upstairs kitchen and the completely separate utilities, this home would STILL be classified as a duplex, and therefore, with a non-occupant co-borrower, I’d be required to put down 25%.This is probably a good point to mention that I’m using a first-time home buyer program for the state of Oklahoma, which gifts you 3.5% for your down payment.

First-time buyers (and low income earners) can get their DP gifted (no paying it back!)

(I already have one but it was gifted to me)I'm kind of nervous to draw from it given our current economic times.

Many of them have "gifted" free rent, rent reductions, and other things to their renters.

Feel bad for them, but you can't look a gift horse in the mouth. 

One of the greatest gifts you can give to anyone is the gift of attention" "Be grateful for what you have, while in pursuit of what you want.""

Lack of capital - Successful newbies: use FHA or Low-down payment conventional financing; Find a co-signer; Use 'gifted' funds for down payment; Save capital while working on their market knowledge and resources.Lack of market knowledge - Successful newbies: Use resources like BP and local meet-ups to stay current with market activity and trends.Lack of resources - Successful newbies: Partner with a local team of professionals - Wholesalers, investors, Realtors, lenders, attorneys, etc.

Understand Dodd Frank when applying credits and lease options; Lease purchase agreements can be a way for sellers to find a buyer, acquiring both a buyer commitment for the future as well as rental income now, to defray monthly obligations; A seller's offer of lease purchase can also attract a buyer who wants the property but needs a little additional time to complete loan qualification and does not want to or cannot make an immediate down payment; terms of payment in a lease purchase should conform to local rental data for comparable homes; the amount paid monthly to be set aside for down payment of closing costs should be in excess of the going rental rate; if not, the lender arranging the mortgage at lease end may not accept the set aside funds; instead, the lender will disqualify the funds by declaring them a "gift" from the seller to the buyer; lease purchase documents should be drawn up with legal counsel to address eventualities such as the buyer not qualifying to purchase at lease end or a market value decline impacting the agreed purchase price and lender's terms. 8.Selling to Relatives - Selling to relatives can be a good option if the seller is having trouble moving the property or if they desire to keep the property in the family; if the property is owned outright, there are few challenges, but if a conventional loan is needed to complete the deal, it can get tricky; creating conditions where a lender is convinced that this is an "arm's length transaction" may be challenging.