Just getting into real estate and was wondering about if it is a good idea to wholesale. use the money as down payments and take those properties and set them up as lease option?

That is basically gifting you money. 10% down is also way too low to make it attractive for a seller to finance you. 

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Investment Info:Single-family residence private money loan investment.

It's important to understand if this can be corrected or if you are putting off the decision to lose the liability which only costs you more time and money.

I lived near the University of Oregon before moving here a few years ago and noticed that most landlords were making much more money renting by the room for U of O students.

Only very few sellers were ethical and honest in dealings involving exchange of goods for money.

So a sponsor that's great for one investor will probably be terrible for another (and vice versa).I'm a conservative investor, so when I invest in real-estate I prefer sponsors that have at least one full real-estate cycle of experience, little to no money lost, low leverage, and high skin in the game.And there is a multi-family operator that has multiple real estate cycles of experience (decades) and it's track record claims no money lost in that time.

The entire effort took way too long, took a lot of work, took a lot of money.  

Otherwise, just make a better return just being a hard money lender.Appreciation in NYC has been disappointing.