The ability to borrow the right kind of money at the right time.

Also, conventional lending will NOT allow you to get gift funds OR borrow unsecured funds to help fund a down payment on an investment property.

In my mind if you need to borrow money for these kinds of services your simply under capitalized and taking on long term financial risk. 

From 2nd Mortgages to 1st MortgagesWhen I started, PPR was buying primarily 2nd mortgages. 2nd mortgages is essentially loss mitigation (helping the borrower get back on track and stay in their home).

@Adam Newman you will want to confirm this with the bank but you can’t take a loan out to borrow for part of the down payment so you’ll need to provide all the funds yourself or have a gift from someone for that which you don’t have.If you have a gift from someone to bridge the 20%, that would be ideal.  

On paper the cheap houses look great, but the reality is they are harder to manage, have higher turn over and cost a lot more time and money.Buying before you retire is a good idea because once you retire, your ability to borrow money is going to decrease as you don't have a regular income from a job.As you want to fix houses up, why not buy a house that needs a bit of work, live in it while doing the renos and then move when you sell it. 

Hey @Patrick Braswell  You shouldn't have any issues getting a DSCR loan as long as you have at least 1 borrower who owns 20 to 25% of the property, or if a couple of you can get to that level combined. 

I borrowed more money and built a new detail shop; no more crummy landlord!

Others may argue that higher rates are bad as it drives up their borrowing costs. 

Borrower has the 3% loan in place for the duration, and 14% investor can be paid off with increased rent in say 18 months.