Lots of opportunity to make money in both spaces.  

Glad you were able to find a solution that worked for you and to save a lot of money in the process!

Hard money lenders?

Just getting into real estate and was wondering about if it is a good idea to wholesale. use the money as down payments and take those properties and set them up as lease option?

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That is basically gifting you money. 10% down is also way too low to make it attractive for a seller to finance you. 

I lived near the University of Oregon before moving here a few years ago and noticed that most landlords were making much more money renting by the room for U of O students.

Investment Info:Single-family residence private money loan investment.

Only very few sellers were ethical and honest in dealings involving exchange of goods for money.

So a sponsor that's great for one investor will probably be terrible for another (and vice versa).I'm a conservative investor, so when I invest in real-estate I prefer sponsors that have at least one full real-estate cycle of experience, little to no money lost, low leverage, and high skin in the game.And there is a multi-family operator that has multiple real estate cycles of experience (decades) and it's track record claims no money lost in that time.