The lender wants to know that you are actually serious about the loan and are willing to put some "skin" in the game...

With no skin in the game there is generally very little to no real cash flow if your calculating it correctly over the long term.

I figure  any lender is going to want to see  experience or barring that at least   my own skin in the game in proportion to the loan.

If you still wanna do the project you can, but that extra 20k is on you so your skin in the game goes up.Bank's are doing this on purpose. 

I'd approach that one with healthy skepticism. 

We were at 80% occupied last year and very healthy cash flow .

In general if a property has been around that long it probably has “good bones”, but on the other hand it could have been a mining or factory workers home thrown together quickly and only meant to last a few years that has somehow made it the distance, by the skin of its teeth.

This will create a welcoming atmosphere, while also creating a healthy landlord/tenant relationship.Check out The Book on Managing Rental Properties for lots of information on being a landlord.

So, i'll factor in that my cash is effectively 22.7% of the end asset MINUS the $7,500 property reserve that I would hold on hand for this property.So if I had $30,000, I'd set aside that $7,500 reserve mentally and my remaining $22,500 would allow me to buy a $99,120 property.IF I could utilize a 15% down loan along the same guidelines I would be looking at $127,120This is why high leverage can pay off IF IF IF it is met with appropriate underwriting and a a healthy ability to service the debt.

A key factor is that a business also has a healthy cash flow.