Success is a process, failure is a choice

I don't add anything to traditional financing due to child support destroying DTI, so I've go to look elsewhere to move on the 2nd home. 

In my previous thread I asked about getting around fha owner occupancy requirements with traditional funding but the best anyone could come up with was basically taking out a private/hard money loan.I have a property that I can buy for 71k and needs 15k in rehab costs. 

Success is a process, failure is a choice

We will never sell on a Land Contract, but we will on a Lease Option (Lease or rent to own).As far as your market is concerned, it is not the market of choice.  

The option fee will be non-refundable in the event of default or choice not to purchase, but should it be applied toward the purchase price typically or is it just money collected for the option to purchase a property in that manner?

I will tell you that the actual test I took for my license was more situational based than multiple choice, true/false etc...

The lawyer they interviewed was a Texan, but I'm sure the principles apply the same here even if the nuances and technicalities differ.I will observe that many of the more extreme asset protection strategies described by the lawyer will not work if your buy and hold properties are financed using traditional mortgage financing.

At best if you financially qualify for a conventional loan from a traditional lender,you can get an FHA loan with 3.5 percent down if you live in it with the tenants.You will need a good job and good credit with sufficient income to qualify for that loan.Otherwise,you're looking at hard money loans with 20%or 30% down and several points upfront and a higher interest rate around 7% for a minimum of two years before you can refinance to prove you can manage the loans and make payments without problems.That's how professional investors do it normally.

Not my first choice of areas, but we wanted to get the ball rolling as we've been actively looking since November.