The hang up is getting deals formally drawn up.One idea:- I buy the property and pay 25% DP, then they provide capital after the closing and I pay them P&I over 5-10 years.

It won't be 100% accurate, but it will be close enough.

When they book it just be close to that price.

@Michael Magno Just closed a deal in Baltimore and familiar with the area.

After one or two weeks close the ad and take it all to the dump, where it probably belongs.

Aside from downpayment, you want to have a solid emergency fund in place, something that can cover unexpected repairs, vacancies, or any other random costs that pop up.I’d also recommend saving more than you think you'll need and keeping a close eye on your expenses.

You magically get the seller to cover every single closing cost (A $12k gift, or a trick to get you to buy their problem.).

Quote from @Devin James: In one of our development projects, the City staff asked us to remove 40 units from our concept plan.This wasn’t requested by the City Commission at a formal hearing, it was the opinion of the staff.Our original concept already proposed fewer units than the current zoning would have allowed.Here’s what erasing 40 units means:- 40 fewer homes for buyers- Over $1M in lost profit for our team- Fewer tax dollars and impact fees that could’ve benefited the City’s infrastructure & servicesWe gotta get betterEveryone wants more affordable housing, but not everyone wants to do what it takes to achieve it we never listen to the recommending bodies. we move for city approvals and work closely. the other thing we do is keep going back to the same groups over and over and over and over every month on the same agenda and make very small reductions like 2% or 4% and that reduces and beats them down eventually they accept what you want. it's just before beating a dead horse. we keep tabling until they give us something we all agree on then we go to vote. in our city in columbus we have to get recommendations but that's our strategy. we used to come out as aggressive as possible. we typically study developments in the area and keep it very similar in terms of density. we have a track record of very controversial projects and litigation and not taking no as an answer. after a year of that haha I can tell you it's not worth it. now we are more relationship based and buying the right kinds of plots of land. if the numbers don't work on the front end don't do the development. 

I have around 8k saved up and my goal by the end of the year is to close on my first rental property!

First one we did closes in Feb and is sold to Toll Brothers..