Ultimately though, it will depend on the lender and the availability of funds (assistance) available for the demographic area that you are purchasing in.Do you have a property that you are looking at?

Oakland has some ambitious plans to improve the city, and as rate improves, I firmly believe certain parts of Oakland will recover faster than others.

A 4 bedroom would have you competing with larger condos or townhouses with pools, a much lower rate of return. 

Also the hit rate per property is really low.

That will get you looking at cash flow and end up in a lower rated area than you think.

They are short term loans, usually 6-12 months, high rate, interest only payments. 

The advantage with the bank was minimal closing costs, a good interest rate, and a draw system so I could get funding as I completed each rental unit. 

The only issue is the interest rate is 7.125%.

If you're willing and able, I do recommend the "house hacking" strategy which is just a fancy name for buying a rental property and living in one of the units, because you'll get very favorable financing - an owner-occupied fixed-rate 30-year mortgage.I'd also say, analyze that property as if you won't live there and it's a pure rental, and make sure the property is still cash flow positive if there's a tenant in your unit because then you'll know if it's actually a good investment.And when you analyze it, include payment of a property manager in your #s because if you don't, and doing so would make it go cash flow negative, then you've just bought yourself a job because you literally can't step away from managing it without losing money.

.- We also negotiate a reasonable completion date, depending on the Scope Of Work (SOW). --- Who gets all the phone calls and wastes time calming a tenant down because the owner's contractor doesn't show up as scheduled after they took time off from work or a 3 day job takes 3 weeks?