Color me skeptical.  

I have no skin in this game, just trying to help him look for other investors that might be more comfortable with his situation.

It is difficult to keep up momentum, to set goals, to reach goals, to talk with sellers, to line up financing, to pick one color cabinet over another, to pick one tenant over another, to pick one house from another, or one investment strategy over another. 

Maybe its just me :)Another note is that you can use Trulia.com to see the crime rate in colors.

@Ben Leybovich,What you described is more a deal that only the ill-advised would take on: a deal where the numbers don't work or where the person looking at the deal hasn't yet learned how to run the numbers and make sure they work before attempting to move forward.In the case you describe, a "PIG" is a Poor Investment Gamble.As I understood @Leon Chappell's question, a "pig" is more like a home I looked at a couple weeks ago: not updated since the 1970's, pink, green and yellow bathroom tile and fixtures, each color in a separate bathroom or powder room, gas cooktop and oven still using pilot lights - the oven would probably slow-roast a sirloin tip roast in about 12 hours just from the pilot light alone, daylight was visible around the basement door to the backyard, ... that sort of thing.

I really need to get some skin in the game !

It's always better to have someone who has some skin in the game and real experience.This is not an exhaustive list.  

If you don't ever close, I keep it because I have just painted my house in colors I might not have picked or purchased light fixtures I might not have picked.

Not to say this deal can't fail but at least these guys have skin in the game.

The appraisal will have current value and the dark value of the property.So if a property was say 1,500,000 purchase price with 4 years left on the primary lease term the lender would want the down payment to be at a level when the loan balance came due in 4 years before the option period that is less or at dark value.This is generally why on short term leases with financing for STNL you will see 50% down unless cap rate is very,very high.Example at 1,500,000 at 25% down = 375,000Starting loan balance: 1,125,000Say in year 4 it is 1,035,000If the dark value with no tenant on the appraisal is 800,000 minus resale costs the lender would take a loss to foreclose.