Currently I am a renter paying about $700 per month, and my lease will be up in a couple of months, but I HATE basically throwing all of this money away!

Im closing escrow on my first home purchase that I will be living in for a couple of years while I rehab it before I rent it out and move on to the next property, as I want to buy and hold.

Unfortunately, breed bans are difficult to overturn unless you mane it personal... maybe get a couple "bombproof" dogs from the local breed rescue for a meet and greet?

If you attend local real estate investment groups, or even reach out on BP, you'll likely meet some hard money lenders.

I think there are a couple of plausible routes. 

Greg, something to keep in mind that I learned from my CPA a couple of years ago (I am retired now, so not an issue these days), but if you make over ($150k I believe), your rental tax deductions cannot be claimed.  

Over the next month i am looking for a couple key people.  

The couple possible apartments I'm looking to purchase are in the $350k to $500k zone, but am finding a challenge collecting the necessary 20% down for the loan.

Other loans may be the opposite, with the money being disbursed after you have completed the task that the money is earmarked for.Many contractors would be completely fine waiting a couple days to get paid. 72 hours(48 for contractor review, 24 for funds availability) is essentially nothing in the contractor world.

You can attend REIA meetings and learn stuff and meet people.