I also believe that creative finance techniques are what set apart investors instead of using traditional bank financing. 

Ya I understand that when going through a traditional lending method.

I just close on the property and then sell like a traditional sale and it seems to work well.

I pushed a full size fridge back through a wall slightly into the mud room to make it counter depth & it made a big difference to the clearance between the fridge & island.

Also to comment of removing the wall paper in a rental buy some bondo from lowes apply it to the wall like drywall mud only on the seams sand and paint the wall with an oil based primer then paint.Under 500 dollar room update for a rental.  

A traditional PM charges a percentage, and you pay them for payroll costs.

I'm not seeing how traditional financing, while using the 50% rule for est expenses, is going to cashflow at all with properties under $150K. 

.- my husband is in a tax bracket that capital gain is almost equal to normal taxes, so my accountant says it didn't make a difference when we sell traditionally-also we would have held it for less than one year, if all goes right. no real tax benefit there.

I'm buying a small condo in the northeast as an investment property for now and a place to retire to in 10 years.I'm trying to decide between getting a traditional second mortgage or getting a home equity loan.The condo I'm planning on purchasing is $69,000.

.- Second option is to partner with a few american family members with great credit score and possibly buy with 20% down using more traditional financing.I hear other options as well like using portfolio lenders, seller financing etc.