More than a few ways to skin a cat in local REI.

@Kerry Boyle You would think that hard money lenders would be okay with seller carry backs, but the vast majority aren't because they want you to have skin in the game.

Another avenue is either owner financing a few deals using your $8k to show you have skin in the game, or find a private money lender that is willing to finance you on a short term loan with a balloon far enough out that you can season the property and get it refinanced before the balloon comes due.

The job also requires a thick skin and that is something I had to personally grow into in the beginning of my career.  

Unless you have some skin in the game there is no reason for him to give you any more than that.

From my experience, most contractors if they're looking out for their own skin will inflate construction prices.Florida's likely to be different but 70-90k is a HUGE budget. 

I don't know if this will work, but I use one of the ear-drying solutions to remove band-aids from the skin with good success.

I did have to grow a thicker skin,  though,  as not all tenants are of good will!  

They have extremely low sponsor skin in the game, very high fees, and they have significantly less experience than some of the top-tier sponsors.

Again, other might feel differently here.b) Skin in the game: as a conservative investor, I understand that the dirty secret of industries that the waterfall compensation is in the line with me and incentivizes sponsors to take more risk.