I’m close to saving up for a down payment but it’s taking forever!

This would pay us back less than we were owed but still enough to come out whole.We all tried to negotiate a short payoff with the second-position lender, who foolishly demanded payment in full.

The maximum fixed-rate period seems to be seven years, and there is generally a balloon payment at 10 or 15 years.

House hacking is an excellent strategy, especially with the potential to use an FHA loan to secure a property with a low down payment. 

Equity earns 0% interest (inflation will destroy your purchasing power) your real estate investment will Appreciate or Crash regardless of how much down payment you put on your home.

I used a HELOC to cover the down payment, appraisal gap, and furniture, allowing me to enter the STR market without depleting cash reserves.

What kind of account or vehicle would you suggest to start saving down payment money for my first rental property?

These are features like online renter payments, tenant portal (for payments and work orders), help keeping track of work orders, tax reporting features, and accounting functionality.

However if you have enough reserves, 6mo or greater then I'd say chance it but a couple of missed payments from the tenants and you have to foot the payments out of your own pocket.I'm all for taking risks but I think you really need to evaluate the age of the major systems so you don't get hit with a bunch of cap ex all at once as well as your reserves. 

We just need to verify that you have cash for the downpayment, closing cost, and up to 6 months of the mortgage payment as reserves.