USDA Loan – 0% Down (Rural Areas)Must be in a USDA-eligible rural area (check USDA’s map).Owner-occupancy required initially, but STRs might be possible later.5.

Especially when it comes to the permit side of things.My initial plan is to ask as many questions as possible and to search for information so that I'm at least somewhat on the lookout for some of these snags. 

Exactly.  20% down financing for investment property will not be easy but if you have a W-2, maybe it's possible. 

It's certainly possible all of those individuals and others are just working on burnishing their interests so people come to them to buy stuff, but in general if you're anywhere reasonably active here without trying to sell people on investing in you, you're not likely to be a pitchman.  

I also have no W2 and possibly one of the highest debt to income ratios in the country.

Wholesaling real estate is among the hardest possible ways to start out your professional career. 

I would love to put my mom into a nicer home in a nicer area would a 1031 exchange make that possible?

Now, with respect to crowdfunding, the pertinent characteristic for you would be the returns required by those investors - perhaps they are lower than other investors, but it's also possible they expect higher returns.

We are both committed to re-investing any cash flow back into the asset to snowball equity as quickly as possible.

Whenever I show the property, I try to make it as clean and organized as possible so that it looks appealing to whoever is interested.