The flip side to the costs of bring creative is that you can be incredibility flexible in your structures - it makes them really fun to create, one of the favorite parts of my job.   

I'm considering a minimum credit score of 700, income of at least twice monthly rent, no pets and good rental references. 

If you're buying land or a run-down property that is owned free and clear by the seller then sometimes they will finance it to you on a land contract for 10% down.Most banks will be looking for a credit score around 600, 2 months of paystubs and will usually lend no less than 50k.

We are working to get our credit scores where they need to be.

While other parts of the country ( those that are cash flow driven for SFR's ) or the neighborhoods that are predominately rentals  prices are just trundling along,  in my mind those lower end areas IE housing under 100k through out the mid west and rust belt will really not move unless some sort of subprime ( low credit score not High interest) can come into play that will allow the folks that live in these ares and are renters to move to home ownership..

The loans currently only report to one of the three credit bureau's so I have a 590, 720 and 750 credit score for all 3. 

I don't even know areas where you could spend that much and even get an incredible amount of appreciation to make up for it.

Building up a real estate empire is a fantastic idea in theory, but in practice unless you're incredibly lucky, you'll be better off putting it in some sort of truly passive investment, like Redfin stock.I believe MOST people here do not realize how problematic real estate investing can be, the degree to which luck plays, how little is truly within one's control, and how inefficient and illiquid the real estate market is. 

Most lenders will also make you aware that you are allowed to shop within 30 days of your initial pre-qualification without your credit score being affected any more than it already has.

I have seen properties in my market that have tried this: basically using a GRM of their Airbnb revenue to justify an incredibly inflated price.