@Kristen Ray Home Depot, Lowes, Lumber Liquidators.

Seems like a great time and that is for sure a lot of liquid gold.

The retirement/financial independence equation he uses is a paid off primary home, 500k in liquid assets (usually retirement, cash, and after tax brokerage account), and more than 1 source of income (part time job, real estate, social security for those of that age, dividends, etc.).

You'll want a great Realtor, contractor, and Property Manager.2) Ensure you have enough liquidity. 

So most likely you'd have to come out of pocket or find a partner that wants in on the deal to provide the liquidity. 

Most lenders will want to see your track record, net worth, creditworthiness, and liquidity to qualify you.

I have some liquid cash in my U.S. bank account and would like to start investing in real estate.

If we buy NPN's in the area, it might make more sense to liquidate these at sales as opposed to taking them back as REO's.

Alternatively, I could liquidate stocks to pay off the property but I'd be subject to capital gain taxes and obviously not leveraging.

It may require you to maintain a specific liquidity ratio over the life of the loan, or maintain cash reserves equal to a specific number of payments, or upon inspection prior to the loan being Funded, Require you to come out of pocket with cash, for instance, to replace the roof because it has more than two layers on it, replace or grind concrete that has heaved, or embark on a program of replacing balconies that have rotted within a certain amount of time, et cetera...