I want to come out of it with some portion of equity, but also want want to keep the deal sweat enough for the investors to enter.

@Jason Dillard - Definitely not the same as paying taxes on principal portion of your mortgage, but yeah, one ought to have enough cash to deal with taxes and bookkeep appropriately...

@Brian Adams In your opinion, would it work for a passive investor in a syndication on an apartment complex, in exchange for the money invested receive the syndicator's portion of tax write offs for the project instead of return of capital?

I have a ton of clients in Chicago that have used the 203k loan, here is what I would say to all of thatfirst 203k is only hard if your lender is not great at it, there are some lenders out there that do a big portion of their business in renovation loans. in terms of red tape it really depends on the type of renovation you are doing many renovations can be done with a streamline 203k which just needs the bid and your contractor to be licensed.  203k is higher interest than a normal fha most clients refinance after they complete the work to get the rate back down.your pre-approval shouldn't have a purchase side and a construction side to it, if your approved for 230K you can buy a house for $1 and renovate with the other 229k the ARV just has to be close to the 229k

I included wording that, if July's rent was paid in full, I'd return the unused pro-rated portion if they moved out sooner than July 31st. 

Setting a goal of buying a multi unit and living in a portion of it while you rent the rest would be a great way to get started.

I love my job and I am looking to invest in real estate with a portion of my $ savings till date (and keep adding more in the years forward with additional savings and built up equity).  

I considered doing a non-refundable portion but feel that it is my problem to shampoo carpet after a tenant leaves (I actually own a pretty heavy duty cleaner).

Why are you not just closing on the note and mortgage right away and avoiding the lease portion of the deal?

Some banks will agree to have the seller take the second position on the title and lend you the down payment or at least a portion of it, but I fought anyone would want to take something like that on for a single family home.