If you aren't a seasoned expert at searching title, you could lose ALL of your money.

But be mindful that those things really cut down your tenant pool in low income/low education areas.The house looks great and it's going to be a better renting season soon!

I am not an expert on this but I do not think that would carry much weight with a bank.You are talking about a POTENTIAL income stream versus an existing proven one over time with a seasoned tenant with years at the property.Generally they will look at your DTI, money down, etc. to see if you can carry the property on your own without the tenant in a worse case scenario.

It turns out that Tom was a successful and seasoned real estate investor who was a wealth of knowledge.

It's somewhere between $150,000 and $250,000 I'll need, so not those little lenders I keep running into on Google.It's not for some new, risky business I'm hoping is a homerun, but for a long time, well-established franchise that has already been doing great for a number of years.The length of the loan doesn't matter too much to me, as I could throw large chunks toward this summer, and then probably be done with it by next summer, as my current business, which is massively passive, is very seasonal (Spring time).I won't say I'm desperate, but also with the shorter nature of the loan, and proven sales, as well as the success of my other business, I would even be willing to go for higher than normal rates.Anyway, thanks for any advice on lenders you might know of that deal in this area.

One was a $300,000 low LTV bridge loan to a seasoned investor at a high rate of 20%.  

We have summer rental season too so 9 months is our lease, even with year round leases don't expect them to stay long. 

If you rent it and can hold onto it for 6-12 months (depending on bank) to season it you could do a cash-out Refi and get up to 75% of the appraised value back, that would be all your cash and credit card debts and would still have it to rent and no tax.Did you buy the REO from a local bank or was it straight from Fanny/Freddie (homepath homesteps)? 

Right now I think I'd like to buy SFR, but I think I'd be open to an apartment building after I'm a little more seasoned.  

I have found biggerpockets to be a wealth of information for both beginners and seasoned investors.