Money is just so cheap right now and the market is treating me so well I'd rather not dump all my cash into a down payment

Due to the heavy market crash in the Phoenix real estate market, I found myself working primarily with investors looking to build rental portfolios on cheap homes and for properties to purchase, renovate and re-sell.

(It can be cheap beer, PBR, Milwaukee's Best.

I notice a lot of newbies like myself seem to be interested in condo rentals (maybe because they're cheap and you don't need a lot of cash to put down the 20%).

Now, coming up with 20% for a conventional mortgage is a little tough, so I'm focusing on relatively cheap stuff (I know there are other options, but for now I'm trying to evaluate how far I can get with conventional).While talking to a friend, I had an "aha" moment - and please tell me if this is stupid/illegal.

Back that time we couldn't find anything we liked, and this was cheap enough that we could spend a little extra to make it comfortable for us.

They were so cheap I could fund them myself. 1) You can get bank loans or loans from traditional lenders like mortgage companies but that is extremely tough to do right now and usually requires substantial down payment. 2) There are Hard money lenders- high interest loans for investors - usually will require a down payment and some of your own funds.3) Some people use money partners.

We are slowly taking all carpets out and replacing with either click laminate / cheap wood veneer vinyl for low-mid and really high grade vinyl for upper level rents but we still have alot of salvageable carpet left so we'll need to be at mercy of steam for another couple years anyway.

Meaning light renovations at best.From what I've read, these funds are only looking to produce 6-8%, as they can borrow at ridiculously cheap rates; easy to see why they're bidding prices well away from the average small investor.

Wayne Brooks---I think he mostly bought them from Home Depot, he has been only buying rough material so far. only thing I can think of is the roofing material which he stalled about 2 months ago, I believe the supplier can't lien the property after 30 days from delivery of material to the job site.