Save and wait unless you can find a killer seller financed deal.And by relative willing to lend  you $2000 - you will want to ensure it is a gift (a true one).There is a difference between lend and gift and it can have a meaningful impact on if those funds are valid for financing sake.

You may have an amazing gift from Uncle Sam.

answer to #4: Speeding things up to do more deals every year, i'd say begin looking into partnering on deals with friends or family who perhaps have yet to purchase a property so they can use an fha 3.5% down or 5% down conventional loan, you gift them a portion of the downpayment for a % of equity in the property.

However after talking to my lender, he said that we would not be able to use my fathers "gift" to purchase an investment property.

I know this is a bold statement but spending 20 years there owning and loaning to out of state investors many times on the same home 2 to to 3 times and one landlord fails and another picks it up and has to remodel yet again.My tips are a gift to the employee not the business owner.

If my core competency is out of season, I’m perfectly happy managing the hell out of the properties I have left, and playing golf when the gift of spare time comes around.Since I’m not worried about raising money for my next fund, I’m free to “tell it like it is” (which I’d do regardless), and make unpopular decisions that bolster our chances of success, knowing full well that after issuing difficult news our investors would be lighting up forums on LFI, 506 group, and BP.  

. :)Your post is the gift that keeps giving.

So, maybe you sell a $50 massage gift certificate for $45 but pay the massage business $40 for it and make $5 in the middle.

In a relationship for 1 yr with a beautiful gifted psychic woman.  

If the free rent were considered a gift or was taxable that could be a complication.2.