(You confirmed something that has been floating in my mind for sometime now.)I often read about all these "creative" options and hustler-approaches to finding a "deal" but often times the things I find are in such poor quality that any sort of rehab (something I too am not eager to do as I have a job) would make it more expensive to buy.I do wonder though, maybe it's just our market, at least in Northern California, comprised of a bunch of angry, anti-government, VC-money-dreaming techies (looks in mirror, haha) so perhaps the midwest reacts better to those letters. 

And let's look at jobs market, where if you can fog a mirror, you can have any of about 400 jobs in 48 hours. 

I 100% agree with what @Travis Timmons says above, his journey described above mirrors mine a lot, albeit his numbers look a little better haha!

now if you could get a seller to be the bank I get that you could smoke and mirror those deals.. but i would think those would be picked over low value or properties in the worst areas of town etc..   

Things like the GRM, etc. are just not a good indicator of how your Investment may perform except for TODAY.The reality is that you need to drive your Investment Vehicle like a Car.If you look ONLY in the Rear View Mirror, you will not see the Obstacle in front of you and will crash your Investment Vehicle.

I spoke to a lender and he told me that I could not purchase that house with a conventional 10% down loan even if I plan to move into it (I do plan to move into it) because there is no reason to move into a mirror image of my own home that would satisfy an underwriter.1) Is that true? 

Hi Catie,Sometimes when people sell, they put "Anyone" that can fog a mirror into the unit to say it's rented and ready to go.No criteria at all.Delve into this, because you are buying the income stream of the renter's payments--and a sold renter is better than a sketchy one.Good Luck!

Right now you can fog a mirror and get a mortgage (not like prior to 2008), as long as you have a decent job and pay your bills, etc.

Then the price-to-rent ratio is just smoke and mirrors to convince someone to make a risky investment.Think about it Ali, if a $1,000 rent sells for $50,000 in the 2% area then why would investors pay $125,000 for the same $1,000 rent in a .8% price-to-rent ratio area? 

That's like the "Zombie Loans" where if you "put a mirror up to his nose and it fogs up" give him a Mortgage!