You need to demonstrate a substantial investment ($100K+}, a solid business plan indicating your ability to support yourself along with any family members, as well as the projection of hiring US persons within 5 years.  

Innovators today brag of being agent's of corporate goliath's with action plans to break new ground to "sell-out" to ___ giant.

The borrower's experience is important, but what's more important is the "Hard Asset," Hard money lenders rely on their due diligence process to determine the potential future value, review the renovation plans to get to that value & sometimes even the contractor.  

My goal is to find a cash-flow-positive rental property that I can manage while finishing my degree, setting the foundation for a real estate portfolio I plan to grow steadily over time.

Everything went well and I thought this could be a good niche but at the end of the day they don't always need a house and you really can't plan vacancies in advance. 

@Roberto Kattan-make sure you have your  financing  / loan pre approval completed  if you plan to  move  forward with purchasing a rental ....this  will  allow you to be prepared and also to be more educated on the  current  numbers  ( rate / cash to close / payment  etc ...) 

I bought in 2013 and I plan to double down on the market when there is a shift.

How do you plan to finance the acq/rehab and then when it's stabilized?

I plan to buy and hold the good ones using hard money and pass others along to interested investors here in the Brooklyn area.

No plans to stop.