@Maria Moyathere's a lot in your post... let's completely forget about "getting into real estate" for a second, and try something different. 

Complete waste of time.

., University Heights, Ohio (Cleveland Metro)Neighborhood Rating: A-Purchase Price: $153KRepairs: $65K (completion expected by May 1)Expected Total Investment: Approx. $225KProperty Features:First floor: 2 bed/1 bath, potential rent $1,200Second & third floor: 4 bed/2 bath, potential rent $1,500Separate utilities and heating/central AC systemsInitially, I projected over an 8% cash-on-cash return.

It sounds like I should be good.

Quote from @Austin Siewert: I could throw out some answers, but they could be completely wrong because state laws differ.

.), since the business aspects are completed in a single day and I usually stay for a week.

There are a bunch of different "conventional" loans, and as it sounds like you're finding out the down payment is very different if you're planning on using it as a primary residence vs. investment.

I don't know how long you've been in the industry, but if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is, especially when there is so much scam stuff happening in the hard/private money side of things still. 

Sounds like they make money in some other ways like origination fees or taking equity from short sales but I doubt that happens often. 

You may very well need to start vetting a co-sponsor who has a history of completing 77 doors in the last 36 months.