I said 'if they can't get it together then we need to find alternate arrangements'. 

@Michael Pike first, thanks for the alternate suggestion of TenantCloud.

I have $6,000 liquid cash among other retirement accounts with ~$8,000.I could gather all the cash I can and look for a low cost home to BRRRR with my own money coupled with a possible a small alternative loan.

So sure, you're giving the seller some of your upside, but if the alternative is waiting years for cap rates to go up, you might be waiting a while.

You should consider this as well as the other alternatives others have provided for you. 

Alternatively it seems the cards present another barrier, since lower income folks also need to purchase the cards (and likely lose them frequently).

Yes - it will make it more marketable to potential buyers and are a safer alternative in most cases. 

I have been looking into a business line of credit that would use current equity as collateral, and I'm hoping to find some alternatives to compare this option to.If anyone has suggestions or comments, I am interested to hear them.  

4) -Create an alternative road-*Any year now I could fall in love, get married and have kids.

The beautiful thing is... many cities/counties across the nation are VERY concerned with the "missing middle" in the housing market and are starting to warm up to tiny homes and other "alternative" housing options.My team and I are in process of developing our first tiny home community as we speak!