I have cash for a down payment but I don't think I have the credit to secure a traditional loan from a bank. 

Based on my research Frogtown would traditionally be classified as a C- or D+ property, in the last 2-3 years some community and religious groups have been fighting to improve the area.

Also we know that the purchase price must be higher then the sale price to a void taxes but for the difference could you just use traditional financing options?

Finally, because most REITs are publicly traded, they have traditionally experienced substantial volatility along with the stock market.

Investors are all about numbers and are easier to work with and execute faster than your traditional home buyer wanting to fall in love with their first home, for example. 

Seeing that most college graduates leave school with a mountain of debt versus their income from their employment I was wondering if anybody has had any luck securing traditional financing with a high student debt to income ratio?

We went the traditional commercial loan, which was 25% down of purchase price.

I intend to begin visiting various banks and credit unions in the area to look into traditional lending numbers and begin to line-up financing.

When you invest in real estate, for example, and want to maintain reserves, some should be in either cash or a comparable asset such as a money-market or CD, but you can easily put excess reserves and earnings from real estate into traditional stocks, funds, etc. as well - it doesn't just have to sit there.  

Yeah, Seems the traditional route would be to pay off debt, repair credit, save, and get a traditional bank loan.