My other concern on this deal is to offer a four year balloon and end up watching him default on that while having deferred four years of maintenance.I guess most importantly I need him to put some skin back in the game if I want to proceed this way.

Extended transactional funding would cost you a lot of points and so would hard money and most hard money lenders want you to come to the table with some skin in the game so it's unlikely they will fund you if you don't have something to put down.

I think they were just scammers all along but, whatever.It was emotionally upsetting and I know I will need to have a thicker skin going forward because, the more rentals I own, the more likely I will be to end up court with unethical, horrible people.

If she balks at the no money down idea, offer her something...maybe 2-5K to show you will have skin in the game.

The bank won’t even let you mortgage the whole cost...you have to provide some down payment so they know you have “skin in the game”

Mark is correct.Usually they like at least 15% skin in the game when purchasing but like anything else, funding sources give you beter terms if you have a lower LTV.

Although, Real Estate require tough skin at times, having conscious is part of being human.

Lenders will want skin in the game on any conventional loan.

If things start to head south I can get out with my skin intact.

Otherwise track record and skin in the game comes to play.