Hi Michael,Getting funding for a down payment on real estate can be challenging, as most of the funding typically covers the other 80-90% of the property's price.

Yes he has to buy the spouse out, either through sell, HELOC, or refinance and then the question being with the equity how would you best utilize that for starting into real estate investing? 

But contracting  is part of the real estate business , flippers are there to make as much profit as they can , agents want the highest commission they can get , landlords want the highest rent they can charge , and contractors want as much as they can get . 

So, I'm left questioning what benefits there are to the 2/1 buydown that would make it a recommended option.I'm thinking that if I skip the 2/1 buydown, the cash to close would be lower, meaning I'd need to put in less of my own money upfront, which seems like a better option to me.

Have you ever considered using private money loans for your real estate deals?

There are 2 factors here, Retail Real Estate Sales and Wholesale Real Estate Sales.

Real Estate News in BriefWhat a week!

Found my real estate agent on bigger pockets.

Any real estate investors from Edmonton or Calgary here?

There are definitely pros and cons to each so I figured I would just lay out a few benefits and personal thoughts: Small banks/brokerages:Pros:- Some regional knowledge of the market- Possibility of more creative lending guidelines with bank specific programs- Sometimes they have competitive rates for their areaCons: - weak balance sheet (more strict on some guidelines, no wiggle room, inability to be flexible or grant exceptions because they cannot afford to hold less than perfect loans)- Can't scale with clients to different markets- Usually limits exposure to individual investors (they don't want one investor to be too big of a portion of their balance sheet)- Lack of experience with multiple solutions (tend to have 2 or 3 loan products they sell and are too niche to provide tailored solutions)Large banks/brokerages:Pros:- Large compliance departments that understand individual market guidelines (typically each state has specific lending guidelines that augment the national baseline)- Ability to scale into multiple markets with same lender (licensed in many states)- Impossible for individual investors to "outgrow" a large bank's balance sheet (not concerned with one investor's concentration)- More lending solutions available for different scenarios- Often comparable or better rates given the game is volume basedCons:- Can be more difficult to get fast responses if the bank/brokerage does not have good follow up systems in place (or if the underwriting/processing staff gets overwhelmed)- Bad large banks can feel less like a relationship and more like a cog in a factory (less personal)Overall, I have worked from both and worked with both as a loan officer, branch manager, and as an investor/client myself.