Most hard money lenders will require to have some kind of skin (your money) in the game.

They want to make sure you've got skin in the game and that you've got some experience built - which you will after you flip your first FHA home.

A downpayment of 5K is 1.3%, so I gather you are dealing with vendor or private financing as a conventional lender would require you to come out of pocket to a greater amount.If you have vendor/private financing, they may not have issue with you borrowing your downpayment - though given how small the down payment is, as a vendor, I would be uncomfortable with the buyer having to borrow that amount.Your best bet is to find a friend, family member, or partner, but be prepared to answer the question of why you are needed if you have no skin in the game.

You have no skin in the game. 

I am new to south F, I am buying a Condo for me at the beach and planing to jump into the buy-rehab-rent right after I settle down.ThanksVan Der Hi @Van Der Fran (can't mention properly with link for some reason) I would say (in simple words) that Beach is not for the aggressive investor, unless you have very important and qualified introducers (you know what I mean) for getting real deals.Sometimes you can do good deals by flipping, but negotiations are difficult, sometimes long, competition is sometimes insane as they offer even more than wise, and for some reason many many contractors charges more than normal for working on the Beach (and, given that even normally they are difficult subjects, this add another difficulty.Final pleasure, City of Miami beach is crazy (I proved on my skin) and they are really picky.Ah, forgot to mention that if you plan to buy and rent to hold, revenues are ridiculously lower than in other places.

There are definitely a lot more multiplexes available south of Shaw than there are north of Shaw - so there are plenty of opportunities to find deals - it also depends on where you are willing to invest - some investors stay away from areas south of shields, but for those with a little thicker skin - there can be some good money to be made - as was stated earlier - getting your rent on time every month from Section 8 can turn out to be a lucrative proposition.  

@Ned Carey I totally understand exactly what you are saying, but at the same time, it certainly gives the investor a heck of a lot more comfort if the project manager/partner has some skin (meaning cash in addition to their time) in the game. 

I'm here to learn, learn, and learn some more until I put some skin in the game and get the ball rolling.

You must have hella thick skin to be making $5k offers!

But they are prime candidates for HML.. they are bouncing back have experience and usually have at least 20% skin in the game.. those are prime candidates for most HML.