I'm aggressively saving money with my wife (her portion goes to traditional investments) whereas mine will be for real estate investing.  

People die, divorces happen, kids from another state inherit property they don't care about, people have time limits on their 1031 exchanges, people win the lottery, etc....I would call every agent you can find and say "hey, I'm ready to buy x....if you find x or anything similar to x...I'm ready to pull the trigger"

Thanks for that idea.My first thoughts on this was to make my pitch appear as much like a traditional LT tenant to the property owner - just to tamp down the dissonance.

@Matt Bailey,It all depends on your goal and strategy... if you're doing a traditional investment property, banks will want to see 20% down, and 6-months of reserves (including the new mortgage) available.       

Thanks, @Matt Motil - I am actually getting increasingly disheartened about using traditional buy and hold to accomplish my goals. 

New owner).I'm still waiting on my offer to be accepted but before placing an offer, my due diligence was to make sure I had a contingency in place since there are things like ground rent in my area hat I have to also consider as well as an astringent City Code/Housing office that notoriously places liens that don't show up right away.Not sure if this is helpful for you on this current transaction but it may be helpful to spend the few extra hundred dollars for the enhanced title insurance when purchasing in all cash or on non-traditional (I.e REOs//estate/divorce) properties.

I think internet and many on BP just foster this thought process that you too can be rich with none of your own money this has been going on for 40 years.. can it happen I guess.. people do win the lottery..

and implying that you would offer cash, then figure out financing (hard money, friend, relative, lottery winnings) before closing.

I note similar town-homes with traditional tenants rent for $1,200 in the area.The Third property is next-door to the first, and the details are the same.

Is there anything that would make it difficult for us to get a traditional loan after?