Philip,If you dig up great real estate investments (this being the key), and you can borrow the debt, you can find the capital you need (equity partners).  

Every time I am in town I go to lunch with our banker  We show him our projects why we are there... its so critical to have those personal relationships if you want to borrow any serious money form local banks.

While smart on FHA's part, made it a lot more difficult for buyers/borrowers using FHA's program to purchase in higher cost markets since the rent to price ratio typically needs to be at .90% or higher (approx) to make this SS rule fly.Freddie Mac Home possible is another program that is promising to lift this requirement and still offer a very competitive low down payment of 5% for 2-4 unit properties.There are a few stipulations and an income restriction for the borrower to qualify, but in most metro  areas  there are no income limits in a predominant area of the city.

Do you have enough income, never borrowing?

Everyone would do that throughout the country if that were possible so,I am gonna say"no".At least a traditional lender would never do it.Maybe if you borrowed it from a relative and kept the arrangement private and not put a lien on the property could that workout.

to "borrow" funds to use for down payments / rehab financing for real estate projects.

you can check with Gorrila capital in Eugene Oregon they will do first time borrowers.

BPers - I am borrowing money from a private lender soon and seek best practices around picking a loan servicer (lender doesn't have one). 

Good Morning BP,I have a question about pooling money borrowed from private lenders.In my example, a real estate investor has 5 individuals who are going to lend 10k each for a total of 50k.  

If credit is good borrow money and you use your cash to buy investment properties.