Homes will have even more deferred maintenance and tenants will be even harder on them.Class D pretty much requires an OWNER to be on location and at the property 3-4 times/week.

I was also happy with that as conventional loans at the time were at about 6%.Lowest rates possible will be in relationships with private money lenders.Lowest rates in the public market will be in the form of a conventional loan.Next up you have commercial mortgages that are usually slightly higher than conventional loans but don't have as strict of loan requirements as conventional loans do.Usually a bit higher in rates are DSCR (debt service credit ratio) lenders.

High cost of entry here, and I have found that most local lenders require 20-30% down with 6 months of reserves for expenses in case of vacancies.

They have to report that on the Federal Depreciation Schedule that is required from year to year on your property anyway.

I found one property manager that will help me accomplish the requirements for meeting the tax needs as well and only requires 10%.

Fast forward a few months, and they have non-paying tenants who are wrecking the place, and a MIA property manager who (understandably) won't put in the ENORMOUS amount of effort required to manage a property in a C or D area for a small-time client from another state.

@Sam Booth most investors want to see a spread of at least 30%, but this is an oversimplification because it doesn't consider important factors like: how much money you're putting down, how much the repairs will cost, how much of your time and effort the repairs will require, the appreciation potential, the cashflow potential, and a myriad of other important factors. 

Normally hard money lenders require 15-20% down and they cover 100% of the rehab costs.

https://www.rentspree.com/blog...Landlords and property managers are required by FCRA regulations to legally review a tenant’s credit report (with consent) for the sole intention of determining an applicant’s qualification to rent.

In that I would not own the home in my name (the trust would) under those assumptions.Is this even a reasonable strategy to jump start a real estate investment portfolio, any alternative ideas are welcome.I hope I have stated this with enough clarity, Please let me know if additional information is required to answer the question.