Hi @John Scully FHA is a wonderful product because you can start with little skin in the game.

They've got to either put more skin in the game that makes you whole or make it worth your while from a payment / cash flow perspective.  

@Abdul Rahman, having $20k as "skin in the game" DOES make a difference to my response.

The hard money lender will probably want to put a (2nd) lien on the property, and the title/escrow/attorney should disclose that to them.If you're trying to find it with a bank, I doubt even gap funders / private money would work because the bank wants to see your skin in the game as a borrower. 

While a 203K loan may make those concerns go away, you'd have to have really thick skin to do a short sale AND a 203K loan at the same time.

So after looking through the forum I've noticed the "you have to have skin in the game" quote alot on downpayment percentages. 

@John Peters, There are a couple of ways to skin the cat but as you describe but it is also very possible that the transaction could actually destroy both your 1031 advantage and tax advantaged status on the other property unless that happens to be your primary residence right now.  

Hello BP,My wife and I have recently created our LLC and have been fortunate enough to have some skin in the game to start out.

Most other HMLs like us prefer you to have some skin in the game.

The requirements would be a average credit score, some skin in the game, and some knowledge about what you are using the money for.