Some lenders might accept accessible funds in retirement accounts for this, but your best bet is to have it there.

there are ways around credit checks, but you pay an even higher premium to do so. best bet imo is to partner with someone as a passive investor while you learn comm real estate and boost your credit score.

They then take those notes and package them with others from similar purchases and sell them along with their analysis to private investment funds.This leaves 45 notes from a package of 1,000 that three professional investment funds, doing intensive analysis by highly trained MBAs, have determined cannot yield even a minimal investment return.These are then offered to the individual investor, who according to those in the industry “with something to sell” (the leftover NPNs and/or “training”) can profit enormously by (1) making them re-performing notes or (2) foreclosing and selling the property for large profits.The pitch from those “with something to sell” is twofold: (1) “There is plenty of meat left on the bone” (actual quote), and (2) if you send the borrower a complete package of all docs, weighing, say, five pounds you will “shock and awe” him into paying on the note.I highly doubt either of these claims have even a micron of validity.The parties with a financial interest in you buying into this will cite isolated instances of great success, never mentioning the all-more-frequent instances of total failure.So at the end of the day the training promoters have collected up to $30,000 per person for their NPN “mentoring”/”coaching” program, the retail asset disposer has made 50% to 100% profit on their inventory, private middlemen have turned a $2,500 investment in a note into $16,000, and my sister-in-law who purchased 5 NPNs over three years ago and has spent large amounts on attorneys, taxes, and brokers has yet to see a penny in return.To paraphrase, if you don’t know who the sucker is in any ultra-high profit promise situation, it’s you.

It has been going up 15% for the past couple years. https://www.weknowboise.com/blog/real-estate-market-trends/ That's not to say I want to 'bet' on appreciation, because I do not want to be playing that game.

to be an actual fix and flip investor / business  its quite capital intensive.. and just a down payment is just a drop in the bucket of the capital required.your best bet is to put a little private network together if you really want to do this.or get your license and specialize in finding these types of properties for fix and flippers.. make a commish selling it for them.. and then the list back.. that's what agents in our market here do and they will knock down 250 to 500k a year no sweat in commish with no risks of borrowing money or a flip that did not work.

It seems with any new investments out of state is the best bet.

Bates-Hendricks and Arsenal Heights are real close to FS so it seems a natural bet that one or both areas will change in a similar way--they might-- but my hunch is it will take several years for market appreciation in those areas. 

I'm betting once folks from California figure out that investing in Arizona is easier and safer than in California we'll see an up swing from there. 

Since you have already identified your niche, the best bet would be to 1) educate yourself via books and podacts2) network with like-minded investors via REI clubs and events.

Asking a fellow RE attorney would be your best bet.