I also experienced a lot of inequality based on my background and had to find creative ways to get accepted, and get to FI. 

Appreciation growth is actually diluting your equity value.Example:PV = $100kDP = 20% = $20k = your initial equityRatio = $1 in equity = $5 in PVProperty appreciates $20k. 

Another avenue would be to bring in a cosigner and offer them a stake in equity, return on down payment help, etc...

@Sean StarkeySpending the time to create a calculator that has proper sensitivity to the risks involved in your investment strategy is always a wise move,The challenge will be the accuracy of the numbers as garbage in equals garbage out.

No, it doesn't afford you more protection untila) You have something to protect (I suggest when you have about $100,000 in equity since an attorney won’t take the case unless there is money in it for him.)

That’s really bad news for people who are too heavy in equities vs being diversified with some RE I’d rather be diversified and have that consistent  RE income coming in during bad times. 6 of my rentals will be paid off before I retire so I should have a net 20k/month from my RE portfolio which I acquired from tapping into our Roth IRAs and a few 401k loans.

Generally you need over $50,000 in equity to justify an LLC for asset protection purposes.

They are out of foreclosure for now but can't really afford to keep their house, they have $300k in equity, they want to look in to their reverse options, whether that can work or not, but if nothing works they want me to help them sell their house... its not in bad condition so will be a listing, but if it was a dump, and I offered them a fair discounted price, am I open to being penalized under some foreclosure consultancy laws, even though I helped them get $42,000 of help.

We refinanced in 2021 so our interest rate is 2.875% and would have $85-90,000 in equity in the home.  

With Real Estate you can leverage your investment get tax benefits and over time build exponential growth in equity tax free. 8k a month is like $1M in 10 years.