The right loan for your circumstance is going to depend entirely on what your goals for the property are.Is this a value-add play with a refinance in month 18 and a 5-7 year hold?

(This reminds me of "Empire City" except Uncle Max would front the cash for the deal take-down and the fix-up as long as contractors were used to do the work and financial projections were done.

The cash required was minimal, the profit margins exceptional, quick and easy buy/sell, and competition practically nonexistent.

(We actually rented a foreclosed condo to a former owner and it worked but that was an exception and was done for a specific reason.)We almost always offer cash for keys to occupants of properties that we foreclose.

i personally invest in low cost index funds until i have enough money then purchase a rental property. my thought is a savings account doesn't offer anything except protection, so asides for an emergency fund, hold the money in the market (it might go down) so it has the chance to grow. i think that by keeping in the savings account you are taking risk by not growing at all!

There are exceptions but I don't think yours will cut it.

That's pretty much the extent of it, wasn't too much though put in except that my family invests and lives in the area.

I'll look into that option with owner and hopefully I'll have a buyer with these circumstances 

Obviously there are exceptions to the norm but that is a good rule of thumb I use when estimating rents.

The best time/highest price has been in these circumstances:1) Property is 100% leased 2) Has a lot of the lease time remaining (i.e. the students have just moved in) 3) When it is in the best *visual* condition2 and 3 usually coincide together.