That being said, I'm planning to hang up my tool belt as soon as possible!

You may spend 10 years looking for that below market value deal and never find it, when you could have bought in and had a decade of tenant-paid equity under your belt.

I once worked in a large building that was heated by gas blowers.

He needs 20% down for any loan and as a construction worker with no deals under my belt.

I'd really like to take advantage of the situation but I'm so new to the scene I need help finding the creative avenues to be able to help him while also getting a rental under my belt.

As long as you even out every month it is worth the experience and then if you want to sell it later after you get a few others under your belt then sell it.

Thank you Greg I appreciate the response, I have 15k in bad debt which will be paid off in 5 months, then a remaining 13k that's interest free debt (loan from parents as I had a son this year and lost my job right before) and there's no time frame to pay off that 13k, my goal is to get 1 deal under my belt by end of this year, scale up next in 2022 and pay off that remaining debt. 

Read as many books as you possibly can and try to get a few internships / real estate related jobs under your belt.

If you have no capital and no experience under your belt, it's going to be near impossible to find anyone, even private, to loan you money with no track record.

Although it's a strategy that's good for beginners, there are plenty of very experienced RE investors who continue to HH.Plus, if you do decide to BRRR/Flip/wholesale a property in the future, you'll be much more prepared to do it if you have a HH or two under your belt--a ton of the lessons you'll learn from a HH can be used to successfully execute a BRRR/flip/wholesale!