@Mike BarryYes, your income will be lower both for tax purposes and for loan underwriting purposes.Lenders look at your ability to pay back the loan, and stashing money into your retirement account does limit the money available for repaying the loan.That said, declining to fund your 401k just to qualify for a loan may be short-sighted.

Crowd funding of RE for such a large amount is a real stretch. 

PGIM Real Estate recently finished raising capital for its European Value Partners Fund with €457 million in commitments from institutional and high net worth investors from around the world. EVP is the first in a ser...

I haven't done any crowdfunding ( though I would be interested to see how it works for you).There are other ways to raise money though.....Loans,Partnerships, private money, hard money, etc.If I were you (and this is just my advice so take it or leave it) I would find a partner with money, offer to do the sweat equity.....put together the deal, maintain the property, manage the books, etc and let him just give you the money.Hope this helps....keep us updated!

Even having enough money to fund the entire project myself or pay back investors out of pocket if the project lasted longer than projected wasn't enough to convince them. 

I have sources of private funds at 6% for five years.

I manage hedge funds and private investors in the Memphis area.

You would have to pretty much get a property for free in order to qualify.I have submitted two properties to their underwriters, and both were rejected because of last minute requirements that changed the lending criteria.I paid $2,000 (one year's worth) in order to be able to receive funding.

As we are not seating on an un-limited cash pile, a few winning TS bids would dry up our fund. 

@Caroline HiresPrivate lends or HML, whatever you choose to call them, provide the funds.