- If we buy a couple thousand acres of ranch land, but it is only used for grazing in the summer, is that sufficient?

It's easier to sleep when a hail storm is rolling through the area, as I am only responsible for "studs in".The newer age of the units has provided very few maintenence requests and the neighborhoods attract very good neighbors and have a great school district.All that being said, my CoC returns leave some to be desired (7.xx%), but I have had great returns on appreciation with the areas boom.

They hear the words private placement, see fancy offering materials, and watch rousing deal webinars and they get that excited (premature) bowel movement feeling.The financial protections (net worth and/or income) from the high risks of private placements are important and just having the knowledge part may not be sufficient protection. 

Honestly, I think your best bet would be to really focus on your credit for now until you can get it to a level that is sufficient to do a HELOC or a home purchase.

For a while, I was trying to start a business of running vacation rental properties but ran into financing issues as I had an extremely hard time trying to get sufficient capital to expand quickly. 

Some properties you will visit once a year and never even hear from the tenants, others you will lose sleep over.

You just might have  sufficient funds to close? 

Generally i try and stay away from contracts and deal with straight purchases but given the condition of the house i do not have sufficient funding to buy the house outright.

If not just remember he is family and he needs a place to sleep. 

I feel it is a great deal and I don't want to get beat out on my first deal because I didn't have a cash offer.If a HML requires a renovation, then would a new roof and AC added be sufficient to allow for the loan to go through?