But I didn’t need to worry–they had a lot of money!

IE motivate them for money. 

Most if not all of these properties require SIGNIFICANT cap ex rehabs and conventional financing won't touch them; you'd likely need to go the hard money route at 10-12%, 2 points, 12-18mon turn around.

There is definitely more too it than just the money that goes in.

I bought this property with a private interest free loan from a friend. the person i bought it from need cash fast so i offered them a low cash offer and they accepted.I had enough money saved up to rehab the house with my savings.

In this case, would he actually need to pay any money for the down payment, or does it basically cancel out in the debit/credit line items?

Why would someone buy now and make little money for the chance that the rates will adjust later?

With it being that risky, the least I could do is have some money saved up.

We often use zoom showings, but they build on that mutual in-person experience.We don't encourage bottom-of-the-barrel neighborhoods, simply because with 60-120 year old properties capex tends to exceeed cash flow over time aka money pit.

We are all about saving money on flips and renovation efforts.