They want to ensure you have serious skin in the game, which will help them sleep comfortably, knowing you most likely wont walk away.Maybe to get started, you might consider becoming a wholesaler.  

Seems there are many of us trying to get this REI game on in Albuquerque.

So can be a tough game for a small investor.   

Hi Stephen-Scenario I find two properties that show promise find an instituation willing to let me borrow for both properties, so the only skin I have in the game would be the percenatage down for both investments and use the banks money for everything else?

You need so much working capital to get an affordable mortgage.. after getting into this real estate game I realized it takes ALOT of money to make money lol 

Running it through an online ROI calc, it yields 25.5% per year for 7 years.

While I've never met either in person, they both seem great online.  :-D

http://bocarealestateclub.com/ Andrew, ...I have "no skin in the game" with B.R.I.C, ...but if I was new to South Florida, ...B.R.I.C. would be a very smart place to learn about the South Florida real estate investment market.And too meet some very nice-helpful folks too! 

It was more about creating a 'lifestyle' business like an online business that you can run from everywhere and hiring virtual assistants to run it.

That sounds strange, but you have nothing holding you back from venturing out of your security...because you have lost that security blanket that was your job.I would venture to say, that most of the success stories in history, started out where you are right now...me included.So, with nothing holding you back, and with plenty of time on your hands (time will always be your greatest asset...since you can never get it back), if you want to get into REI, you need to do the following:1 - Learn,2 - Learn some more,3 - Keep learning.Places to learn (before you say "that costs money"), that don't cost any money are:1 - Online education sites that have free articles written by experts in their fields.2 - Free e-books, that you can get online.3 - Joining your local REIC's to both learn and network.4 - ...and never stop learning...even when you become a success at this (and you will)Also, three very critical actions you MUST follow to be a success:1 - Always think possitive.2 - Train yourself to think of future "obstacles" as temporary problems...and you are the problem solver.