A lot of local families (about 3,000) are looking for housing in Curacao (Caribbean island) and banks are happy to provide mortgages right now, but there is no one building any middle class family houses.

Or should I get started with a large bank initially?

The math gets pretty complicated to explain in paragraph form when I start talking about saved rent or saved vs a mortgage on another home, so I went simple here to assess if the base unit is a good plan if I should decide to move out before the 30 years are up. 

It was a bank sale and I was in the right place at the right time.

Property Preservation Companies - these are companies which secure preforeclosure/foreclosed properties for banks.

Now, I would base my returns on $75,000 down payment ($55,000 to the bank and $20,000 in deferred maintenance).

@Chanoch Moller, Finding financing independent of banks or different lenders is very difficult to accomplish.

one option is try to wire the money from bank to bank, something like this happened to me but I paid everything to escrow and they paid my collector. most of the collecto information addresses and phone number should be on your credit report.

About a third are paid off and my reserves and bank accounts allow me to loan some money without jeopardizing my business.I am a leading member of my local REIA and have met with someone from the group who has flipped abut 6-7 houses and is interested in working with me on her next flip. 

The online sales across the USA of bank-owned properties allow a window before closing that hard money (and private $) lenders need - often times you pay 5% of the winning online bid and your closing 30+ days later works for the requirements of the lenders.