I personally don't like any growing in my rentals because of the water, heat, humidity are all negatives to a healthy house.

Even better, work with someone (if you decide to work with someone here in the US) who will put some skin in the game.

But at the end of the day, I agree with Ewa in that they will look at the deal and how much skin you have in the game.

Very few hard money guys will loan you anything unless you have some skin in the game. 

The idea is we form an llc with the 2 people who have approached us about investing and pool those 5-10 properties in an llc with us putting in small sliver so we do have at least some skin in the game but getting a much larger share of the pie for doing the work.

They are going to want you to have some skin in the game unless they are ready to unload the property.

But, you may want to develop some friendships with others who have maybe worked hard or made some sacrifices in order to be financially healthy and who share some interest with you.  

I would look at $100 to be no skin in the game at all especially on something more than a $15k-$20k class property. 

when looking for the best area to start buying homes for fix and flip is it best to look for areas that have a healthy market or ones that do not?

The loans are 70%LTV and the prices were higher, so I have more skin in the game.