In certain situations—especially with motivated sellers—this can be a way to structure a deal with little money down and flexible terms.

My realtor seems confident that I can get in with zero money down.

It is a complimentary strategy to pull some of your money back and hedge your bet. 

You are putting money in.

If you have a self directed account and invest pre-tax money into illiquid assets like syndication or mortgage notes they will come in at a value of less than the principal.

So many "investors" bury themselves in complex, expensive situations to protect themselves from some unknown threat to their non-existent business.Figure out if you have any shooting skills (or even enjoy the game) before spending money on $600 Nikes or an indoor basketball court. 

If you have a residential earnest money dispute its very different than negotiating a national retail NNN lease.Transactional vs litigationResidential vs commercialThose would go a long way to finding the best referral for your needs 

FHA loans are really only best in lower credit and lower down payment situation. if you have the ability to do 5-10% I would do it. if you don't need money for repairs , you could do on the higher end 10%+ but if you do need money for repairs 5% could be good. some lenders will do recasts on loans and you cannot do recasts with FHA.

I'm not familiar with Canadian regulations but you should look into how you can get access to money if you don't have any.

Let us say you want to have a Section 8 rental, then first try to define what you can afford and where is that money will come from.