Also traditional lenders will require that you have 35% "skin" in the game.

Now I realize the nature of cycles and can see things a little better now.

Having said that, if you have zero skin in the game, and don't have something to offer like experience or a trade skill, it is definitely a hard sell to an investor, you need to be able to establish confidence in you with the investor.

Your skin will become tougher with every problem tenant.

Will he have skin in the game?

If not, I looked up delayed financing on the Fannie Mae site.The original purchase transaction was an arms-length transaction.For this refinance transaction, the borrower(s) must meet Fannie Mae’s borrower eligibility requirements as described in B2-2-01, General Borrower Eligibility RequirementsThe borrower(s) may have initially purchased the property as one of the following:a natural person;an eligible inter vivos revocable trust, when the borrower is both the individual establishing the trust and the beneficiary of the trust;an eligible land trust when the borrower is the beneficiary of the land trust; oran LLC or partnership in which the borrower(s) have an individual or joint ownership of 100%.The original purchase transaction is documented by a settlement statement, which confirms that no mortgage financing was used to obtain the subject property.

That’s the nature of big investments that rely on major variables that are out of your hands.

I believe that it is natural to put some leverage on real estate.   

Holes in walls and ceiings are mostly cosmetic in nature.

It probably isn't since condo's by nature make for poor rental investments.