They're also considering town homes as well.Anyway, would love to hear your thoughts on methods to go about this with them.

Their website is http://assessor.hamiltontn.gov/search.aspx.By using this method you can save time and gas and you should be able to locate 30 or 40 properties a week that might be of interest.

Credit card cash advance... this is a hairy method we've kicked around.

Bandit signs are a tried and true method of generating leads that still works.

I never used a bird dog method but if the deal is good I don't really care who else makes money on the deal.  

I suppose there are also hybrid ways to do it, and you'd probably use different ways for different circumstances, but when sitting down, for yourself, to calculate your net worth, what is the PROPER method?

With the right skinny contract and the perfect controlling clauses and contingencies you can do deals all day without lots of money or need to setlle.It took me years to discover this technique, but now that I understand the Control and Roll method of making money by selling real estate I don't own, I love it and profit from it all the time.

So what I'm curious about is the best method to obtain this cash for the down payment.

The property still had to appraise.Now, down payment assistance cannot have funds derived from the sale, so this kick back method is not legal from a federal perspective.As to the question of having other assets encumbered, yes, that is done. 

Frustration leads me to reading: 4 Hr Workweek, GTD Method, J Scotts books on flipping and estimating and FLIP and HOLD and the One Thing.What's my big hairy audacious goal for 2016?