Maybe owner financing or a sub 2 might be to your interest if you looking to just control and rent something.

If a tenant moved out, you lost 100%.

Lots of people lost their homes, and tension has been running high.

The third time I lost but was asked if i wanted to be backup bidder...i said 'sure', what the heck. 

The difference is significant enough that if we were to consider lowering our price to the appraised value, we'd lose any profit we would have made, plus lost approximately $11K of renovation costs.  

I say that bc it is easy to get lost in the amazing world of real estate.  50 ways to swing a cat!

Here's where I am looking for creative options: Most commercial loans want me to put 20%+ down, and I hate to take good money and tie it up into property I already control.

Somewhere along the way I lost sight of my goals.

It turns out the property was indeed listed on the MLS, for approximately $700k, instead of the $250k the people said they were asking as a FSBO.There was a long story about having just retired and going into the mission field, etc, etc.Point being, you figured it out before you had sunk any real money into it, and the only thing you truly lost was time.  

I lost count of what attempt this is.