This down payment needs to come from the principals funds, and not from third parties, or worse, the seller.Years ago a lot of deals were done using “creative “ accounting so it appeared that the borrower was coming up with the down stroke while it was actually the borrower; contracts were written for prices higher than the actual selling price; money was transferred from sellers account to jointly owned “escrow “ accounts; sales were set up to “land trusts”, zero coupon bonds purchased for 10c on the dollar were recorded at full face value when use as a down payment, etc.

Not that it was all rosy, I was cutting my teeth on rental properties having to learn quickly as the properties I had bought it what I believed to be a great discount, I found were discounted for a reason.

Keep in mind that mortgage rates can change intraday, depending on economic date that influence mortgage bond prices.

Are they licensed and bonded? 

Equities, Bonds (via implied interest-rate), Art, Fine-Wines, and especially Real-Estate.

I am a veteran as well and maybe we can help one another out on that bond!

Debt, mortgages or corporate bonds tend to be the lowest cost of capital available.

Ask contractors if they are licensed and bonded before even meeting them at the property.

Some feel that real estate is a viable alternative to bonds and others feel they are not.

If you are not planning to live in NYC for a long time then I think you better off investing in an area with a better cash flow...If you have in mind your next destination after NYC then you should probably research that area...NYC is like investing in bonds...very safe...but very low if any returns...Managing an apartment in the city can be quite difficult.