I have tried several commercial lenders in town, but they all seem to want to force me to have skin in the game. 

It's also absurd to give people loans who have such little skin in the game.  

I told him I would not do that as well because he had no skin in the game and he would have to, at the very least, match the amount I have down.  

After all, I will grow thicker skin, but being a newbie it pretty hurst right now.

This way you have skin in the game and something to offer your mentor if you want to partner with him or anyone else.

Skin in the game.

Unless you've completed verifiable upgrades to the property you are going to have to wait 6 months to refinance at 80% of as-is value. 10-20% skin in the game is what hard money is looking for, so I recommend cashing out 80% and financing/doing your rehab so that you bring more value to the home now then c/o again once improvements are completed.

 @Robert Uceda , Also, if Bill's post caused you to get that worked up, you need to get thicker skin to handle rejection.

They have to do as much research as they can just as BP investors research on their investments, usually they have more skin in the game than you do (hence the loan)...Congrats on how it came through in the end!

Your intentions of making repairs and improvements, putting more cash in signals your skin in the game, more than just a down payment.