Not enough to make or break a deal.Choose and commit to  a r/e agent and don't consider that agent/lender do not need to be a package deal as noted above posters.

So unless you have $1M liquid net worth or >250K income you are precluded from a lot of that.

The ways to get to the owners are: brokers, wholesalers, and my favorite, direct to seller marketing. 

Insurance, banking, e-comm fulfillment, apparel are all well represented.

Since you have probably filed a tax return the bank will look at your schedule E to see if you are breaking even on your rental property.Guidelines are always changing so I recommend you reach out to a local lender.

Additionally, if the seller has previous Schedule C/E and you write a letter to the underwriter that you are planning on continuing the same business model, it's possible they will consider it. 

That would leave us with around $70k liquid cash.We rent an apartment month-to-month until we find a good duplex to purchase (ideally within 1 year).We house-hack the duplex until we accumulate enough cash to buy a SFH for ourselves (3-5 years).We retain ownership of the duplex and rent out both units.In my mind, this approach could "get the ball rolling", considering we can't afford to buy an investment property with our current circumstances, nor would we be able to for many years.What would you do if you were in the same boat?

You’ll want to keep this list of names, phone numbers, and e-mails handy for later.When you contact the agents via e-mail or phone, they are going to get an idea of what you are looking for and quickly determine whether it’s something they can help you with.

Depending on your situation and what you're trying to do, both options would allow you to hold onto your appreciating property and have liquidity to invest with.

Happens every day... personally I set up a UTMA account with E*Trade in 1992 that worked out well.