It will be extremely unlikely that you find a HML to give you 100% funding on your first deal.They will all require you to have a down payment and some skin in the game.You will also need funds for rehab because they typically reimburse you afterwards.You'll either need to save up or get private money (friends, family, etc) for the down payment.Otherwise you can always explore creative financing options like seller financed deals, etc.

It irritates me to no end that I have to manually check that guests have paid before granting access.

Hi @David Miller, it appears that would be the route to get some "skin in the game".

I would ask the lender, but probably not most lenders want you to have skin in the game, even the seller takes on a lot of risk if you don't pay, because they would not be first loan position. 

They have more skin in the game then you do.Make sure you get clear title.

I always make sure I have some skin in the game.I think this is most definitely the way for you to go.

Has to be the right fit of course and both partners need to have some skin in the game but win-win all the way.  

I was trying to consider some factors that may come into play - from what I understand you can put as little as ~3.5% down under an FHA loan - will it be more beneficial for me to put "more skin in the game" with the largest possible down payment I can make (say, closer to 10-15%)?

You usually have to have some skin in the property in order for them to lend to you.

This structure first compensates either partner for skin in the game (kind of like you would otherwise need to pay for private money), then splits rest.On the legal structure, sounds like you'll want to set up an LLC, along with an operating agreement that specifies the different duties you each have, all the stuff you agreed on deal structure above.