I am thinking of using an apartment or condo to eliminate my commute four days per week and making it available on weekends for STR.  

What if you're a cardiologist with no debt and making $250,000 annually?

Deduct NEW property taxes after you buyDeduct home insurance costsDeduct maintenance percentage, typically 10%Deduct vacancy+tenant nonperformance percentage(we recommend 5% for Class A, 10% Class B, 20% Class C, good luck with Class D)Deduct whatever dollar/percentage of cashflow you wantNow, what you have left over is the amount for debt service.Enter it into a mortgage calculator, with current interest rate for an investment property, to determine your maximum mortgage amount.Divide the mortgage amount by either 75% or 80%, depending on the required down payment percentage - this is your tentative price to offer.If the property needs repairs, you'll want to deduct 110%-120% of the estimated repairs from this amount.Be sure to also research the ARV and make sure it's 10-20% higher than your tentative purchase price.As long as the ARV checks out, this is the purchase price to offer.It is probably significantly below the asking price.

I would say the deal flow I can get by not being anonymous far outweighs any liability risk because I do the things on a day to day basis to eliminate most liability risks.

I suspect they drew you a flow cart and then your conversations went something like this: I need to transfer my properties to an LLC for anonymity.They are told they are not anonymous & that is not asset protectionBut I need it anyway for tax savings.They are told there’s no meaningful tax advantages  But I can get non recourse debt because the LLC is the borrower.They are told they still have to personally guarantee the loanNo, I can get non recourse debt I read all about it.They are told yes, while that is true, the leverage is customarily low, applies to much larger CRE transactions and there are still carve outs.

I recommend aiming for 35-40% down to avoid being burdened by debt service.

The reason you have to obtain this special type of financing is because the tax code provisions (IRC 4975) do not allow you to personally guarantee debt that your IRA or Solo 401k takes on. 2) It was referenced above UBIT, which is a special tax on the portion of the after expenses and depreciation, that is attributed to the debt financed percentage of the property.

Ultimately the debt will still be recourse meaning you are personally guaranteeing the loan. 

what’s an example of buying real estate for cash flow without using any of your own money? 

Get your finances in order to minimize your expenses: pay off consumer debt, buy a house and house hack, sell expensive car and get a cheaper one.