I closed a loan Monday for 4.75%.If you're just starting out you should exhaust all of your traditional financing options first.

REI occupies my mind so much now it exhausts me 

I bought a Mig welder and a bunch of tools and suicided the doors on my Ford Ranger, shaved the door handles, sunk some different taillights into the back, ported the intake, custom built an exhaust, modified this, customized that. 

But, I sense a general leaning toward shorts because loan mods are near exhausted and have not helped that many (plus the article estimates 70% of them will go bad).

What you need to do is try to exhaust all your other options for instantly borrowing any down payment that you might need.

It's slowed a little now, likely due to buyer exhaustion and the properties that were bid up are now comps generally speaking.

This has been exhausting!

Once you have an FHA loan you are not allowed to have another FHA loan unless relocating a great distance for work.Now that you have exhausted your Low Down Payment Options (Portfolio Conventional and FHA Conventional and FHA) you will need to use a Standard Conventional Loan and put 20% down to get your 3rd Duplex.The sky is the limit...you could continue to buy properties and build an empire or just stop there and enjoy more free time...I have friend who quit his job and just manages his properties now.Keep in mind that this 4 step process I outlined takes time (anywhere from 1 to 10yrs depending on the person) so keep the big picture in mind but don't let it stress you out too much.

I am exhausted just thinking about what you achieved in one year.You should congratulate yourself, but also take time to de-stress.

I had scraped and struggled along until then and I was just exhausted from the transient nature of the “gigs” I used to support myself up until that point .