Also, many of the banks in my area won't finance manufactured homes, and the banks who do offer financing will expect that the home is well maintained and is sitting on a permanent foundation and even then the rates for those loans will be higher. 

The issue I keep running into is that lenders want to be in 1st position.

If there is no mortgage on the property, you could give the seller the money to install the septic as a mortgage in the 1st position to protest your money.When dealing with banks, they can complicate things so, the 203k could take some time or not even close the deal.Hope this helps

It's messy but so positive. 

I’m all the more motivated to get started after reading all the positive replies.

Of course we were in no position to argue being without a house.

Regardless of your experience or cash position, house hacking is the PERFECT way to get your feet wet. 

At $5K that is probably going to be a 2nd position note or a first position note on either a very low end home in the hood or way out in the middle of pudunk.

This one at least looks cash flow positive assuming nothing big goes after the rehab but still, it's a pretty thin margin here. 

That being said, the new goal is to find a SFH that can cover the mortgage while I save for more properties and ultimately provide positive cash flow when I decide to move out in the future.