I'm under contract for a nice double and was hoping to use part of the money for my portion of the down payment.

if you need $200K for a project, no one is going to loan you $200K - you need a down payment, holding costs, and you need to know what you're doing or you'll just turn that $200K into $150K.good luck

The current owner is letting me take over the property as a tenant as long as I pay the water bill and the mortgage payment on it and whenever I decide I can purchase property for the balance of the mortgage  they are in no hurry for me to purchase the home as long as the mortgage is paid. 

Pretty much the core of the STR business.Higher your rank gets, you can increase your price and be more picky in selecting customers which usually lead to a better review / less party or complaints / less expense and higher profit with a happy life.I know some people will argue, but the ranking system is the truth and should be the only guide to your STR journey. 

To avoid going through the same poor experience, keep reading.Even if someone gives you a referral here, do NOT make the mistake of assuming that the PMC will meet your expectations, just because they met the expectations of the referral source.In our experience, the #1 mistake owners make when selecting a Property Management Company (PMC) is ASSUMING instead of CONFIRMING.It's often a case of not doing enough research, as they don't know what they don't know!

THE NUMBERS: With a purchase price of $7M, my Investors and I put down $2.7M as the down payment on the property.

. - This will allow low down payment and the 203(k) allows repairs to be financed into the purchase mortgage.- The 203(k) will allow you to bid on properties that need repairs that won't qualify for a traditional mortgage => less competition => better purchase price.You will need to find a great local contractor you can trust to supply the required bids to qualify for the 203(k).- After closing, you can do some of the work yourself to save money, but the program doesn't allow you to pay yourself.You will want to buy a Class B property, maybe Class C+, in an area that seems to be improving.

Box solely for the purpose of collecting rent but I do suggest having one and if nothing else works use it for rent collections but I would Electronic payments or bank deposits before doing mail.

It is crucial that you select a company that provides a “quality” cost segregation study as determined by the IRS.

The down payment wouldn't be minimal if your finances were tight.