These loans are offered through wholesale lenders and are conventional terms, typically 20% down.

Inventory levels are currently so high that there is an 8.9 month supply.

If you do run into a situation where a rehab loan is needed over 70%, keep in mind that there are conventional rehab loans that will get you to 80% of the ARV.I suggest as John says to try keeping your deals at 70%, but just wanted to let you know other options were out there that could cover the purchase, fix up, and costs.

Is there a "Script" for contacting the banks or their REO Agent about making an offer on their inventory.

(3) I get him paid up, and then we have a legal agreement that we "co-own" the house and he has to keep making payments, and if he doesn't, I can buy the house for a pre-determined price if he gets behind again - I read about this somewhere, but it's not clear how this would work to me I'm leaning toward (2), to draw up a legal document saying that he is selling the house to me, and at the same time, pay off the bank for him and get everything level so that the sale can go through and I have time to get conventional financing.

If your project will not qualify for conventional financing and you have to use a hard money rehab loan you can expect to pay 14%+ in interest as well as several points on the loan and that can eat up a large chunk of your profit.

Get Hard Money, or if you have good credit, get conventional financing.

Conventional lenders don't do double closings.

There are loans that serve the purpose you seek in conventional, hard money and ARV based versions that would allow you to roll in the cost of purchase + rehab + closing costs (and in some cases, monthly payments) with as little as 10% down (the ARV loan would be an exception to this guidance).You haven't shared enough info about the property, tenancy, cash flow, etc. to determine what direction you should take, but you might want to review your financing options before using your home equity for the down payment (you are going to need cash reserves to find rehab in lieu of reimbursement).

Employer Trend: Correct me if I wrong, but isn't the gambling industry (and all its subsidiary business units like entertainment, hospitality, etc.) the largest employer in Vegas (most likely followed by construction and then the convention industries)---if this is the case, the industry isn't known for employee enrichment/income advancement.