Worst case the board does declne me - is my 200K gone in smoke?

I can't afford to make major mistakes, because I have 3 major priorities (kids) depending on me.

Either way worst comes to worse sell the property after paying down 5 years in debt, capturing 5 years in appreciation, and 5 years of tax advantaged cash flow.

I do want the house but I don't want to make an expensive mistake.  

With a great market they start getting more competitive with creative financing options for your first investment property much like the prior advice things like lower down payments are an option.Find the absolute worst dog of a home in a decent enough neighborhood (ensure it doesn't need to be condemned and no structural, meth, or mold issues that will supersede the overall benefits of it and flip it for a quick chunk of change).  

Being the first one, it is likely that I'll make some mistakes that I can learn from, but they will be mistakes with only 2 or 3 zeroes after them, not 5 zeroes.Good luck!

I always loved my sister growing up, and saying that I can say the largest mistake I ever made in my life was purchasing my house with my sister when I was young.

It will likely be between $25 and $100 and ask them to give you an on-the-spot ballpark rehab range--best case to worst case.  

But with that kind of debt, my worst-case scenario is that I end up owning the property at a discount, and hold it until the recession ends.

We made a lot of mistakes and definitely over spent but we learned for next time which is a reward in itself.