Traditional lenders won’t approve it, and hard money lenders who offer this type of financing all the time look for experience, assets, or strong equity in the deal.Partnering with someone who has financing or experience is realistic approach when starting.

The numbers definitely work if the rehab stays within $100K–$115K and the timeline is 6 months, but with a full gut reno, I want to be realistic about potential delays.

How can you deploy $250-270k on the next deal because that's realistically your equity position after the remodel.

(Respectfully- Please don't tell me to save up and quit my job it's just not realistic for me and won't be anytime soon)If you read the threads on BP concerning wholesaling, you should be able to draw a few conclusions1. 99% of people trying wholesaling fail2.

Aggressive pricing is necessary to achieve this, so it's important to ensure the property is realistically priced in line with market standards, which often is not necessarily what you're hoping to sell for. 

From there we identify properties that could have some potential and if you are interesting in diving deeper, 1) we do a thorough video walkthrough to give you a realistic look of the property, 2) we give a ballpark estimate of rehab costs (we do 40 a year with our GCs o we will get pretty close), 3) we talk through market rent with our property management team, ARV, and potential highest and best use.Ideally you find great investor agents who know their market really well and have a network of resources to provide you with enough confidence to take reasonable action. 

By having a second pair of eyes throughout the buying and selection process, you'll end up more realistic expectations.

Are they realistic for someone just starting out in REI like me, or do they come with major risks that aren’t always talked about?

Rents can’t realistically continue to appreciate at the rate they were if we are to maintain a healthy housing sector.

That's all you can realistically, efficiently do!