The plan was to use traditional bank leverage to finance the rest of the property. 

Those are more like a traditional business. 

A lot of people buying these do 25% down that's the traditional investment property 2-4 unit mortgage.

You are already licensed, so you have the inside track on things and could easily offer sellers the option of a quick easy sale to an investor or a more traditional sale with listing on the MLS.

An FHA 203k allows you to buy a property that needs to be rehabbed that a traditional FHA loan typically wouldn’t finance.  

With a Tenants (aka Renters) policy, they would pay the deductible ($100, $250, $500, ... depends on what they select) and then the Insurance company pays the cost to replace the items up to the policy limit.2.

The one item I'll add is make sure your agent (or you if it's direct) explain the offer to the seller as sometimes they overlook the escalation clause or don't fully understand it if it's new to them. 

Is it like a traditional mortgage payment?

Should I have a lease agreement ready before I buy, is there other items I should have ready or be thinking about before I buy?

@Phil Fowler Yeah, unless you have enough assets to use capital gains or asset depletion as income, you're not going to be able to find traditional financing without a job.