They have given rent to retirement builders money and will never see it again.

I've found the people who want to charge for their time and "mentorship" typically need the money because they are struggling- maybe not the best person to take financial advice from. 

If they do, your best bet is a local community bank that funds these types of properties.Another option is a private lender but that money will be pretty expensive, as mentioned 10%  + 

@Shaylynn O'LearyI think I may have posted this in response to you in another thread a while back, but here goes again.If you pick a random "low cost" market like the ones you named, don't know anyone there, don't set up a network, buy random properties, and turn them over to people you've never met to manage, you will most likely lose money. 

I would try not to tie up any of the principal in down payments.Personally, I had a family member do this same thing, but they used an investment portfolio as the collateral instead of real estate.If you play your cards right, this might be the only short-term money you ever need.Please let us know what you end up doing.

Being able to purchase a property with only 5% down means you can leverage your money way more effectively.

For example, if a seller comes to you, looking for you to help them sell their house, your first responsibility is to help them get the most money for their house, and not try to buy their house as an investor for cheaper.

They have to prove to any relatives and "legally" interested parties, (court, relative, creditors, etc) that all money was collected and all debts were paid.  

Explore my personal favorites, Set For Life by Scott Trench or The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey, for invaluable financial insights.3.

To get to where we are financially, we hadn’t outsourced much because we didn’t want to spend the money.