Buy and holds is the key to true wealth with all the benefits of depreciation, appreciation, loan pay down by your tenants, leveraging the equity, cash-flow etc etc, but it often times isn't the active income that pays the bills until you build up a portfolio and even then there's the tenant management or managing your property managers.That's why I'm involved in all 3.

And you'll have a solid W-2 income to help you qualify for loans. 

Unlike a mortgage the interest on your loan will not be tax deductible.

For context, I will be assuming his VA loan at 5.1% and he will be doing seller financing for the remaining equity and sale price. 

I financed the deal with a conventional loan and bought down the rate from 7.75 to 6.25.

You need two years of steady income before you can qualify for a loan.

If you need more to do the rehab, perhaps instead of partnering, you could get your former boss to do a personal loan. 

The bank set me in at 7.1% interest (construction loan short term) This will be a side hustle for me.

Finally, always get the credentials to access the mortgage account online and change the email notifications to your address.

He is looking at a group of investors like myself to bring 25% of the project value and then procure a bank loan for the remaining 75%.