Even with flipping if you use hard money the lender will want skin in the game ( money down and points ) to do the loan.The reasoning is if the rehab gets tough the HML wants it to be painful for you to walk versus just handing it back to them.A good contact for flips is J Scott on here.

My OP is a very surface post as it would take quite a bit to detail all the thoughts surrounding this but this has been mulling for almost a year now.

we bought one that they smoked in for 45 years.we removed all the floor coverings etc & painted/sealed all the surfaces with shellac. it worked!!

Hi Nicholas Spohn,On the surface it sounds like a good deal.

You typically need to have skin in the game, but at the same time you certainly don't want to drain all of your personal reserves if you don't have to (i.e. if you used up all of your reserves on a traditional downpayment w/a bank - not only would it be gone, but then what's next?

Prime with odor blocking primer and repaint ALL surfaces.

On the surface, it seemed unwise to "pay" to officially live in a unit that I hardly have time to actually live in.

What might be done in Texas can't be done in GA and they are simply unaware.Then, we get teachers who have gained some questionable knowledge on the surface, perhaps they buy into some guru strategy, inject some experience and decide they have a marketable product and aspects (not to mention compliance issues and changes that pop up constantly) that poison or taint their interpretations.That's my issue is that gurus give advice and amateur instructors teach information that ranges from bad to dangerous.It really depends on the subject matter too, but I see too many biting off more than they should chew.I've been asked to do the same thing in several areas, problem is, what I know is not 100% in every state, I just feel like I shouldn't be putting anything out that someone in NM gets a hold of and then gets hammered for some off the wall, unusual transaction restriction they may have adopted.

Mala,On the surface what you are proposing is illegal.

I would need more information to know for sure, but on the surface it looks like a good deal.