I'm familiar with the traditional methods, so instead looking for advice from real-world experience.

in addition to whats been mentioned above, i would go one step further and talk with 2-3 traditional banks before buying the property to see what their requirements are for a "cash out refi". 

Your RevPar should be greater than your traditional leases.

We have made plenty in San Diego with just traditional buy n hold and fairly minor value adds.  

I just bought a house (in California) under my name using traditional bank loan (so no LLC or Corp).

Traditionally, a borrower can get an approval for an FHA loan with a FICO as low as 580.

We purchased ours with traditional financing, we put 20% down and rest was financed by the bank. 

Traditional mortgage, not that I know of - each property will have a specific individual loan against it. 

Assuming all I buy are duplexes then I need 25 properties to hit my goal or 9 per year for the next three years. 25x$50k= $1.25MM Now if I can do a traditional 20% down payment then I'll have $250k of cash out of my pocket, which is more than what I'd like to invest.

Cash flow: $1,275/moProperty 2:Traditional up-down duplex, 1,100 SF units w/ 3 beds 1 bath each.