anya,You may find a hard money lender that will work with you, but it depends on how much collateral you have in the property, they will not help you if there is no skin in the game, and if they do, your interest rate and fees will be killer. from what it sounds like, you may be better off selling as is and not creating more debt in order to maybe make more money on the sale. 

Don't hard money lenders even require some sort of skin in the game?

Charles Soper you might think the “lion’s share” of the work looks like it comes from the buyer’s agent, but please understand that a top-notch listing agent has a lot of skin in the game, spending their marketing dollars on getting maximum exposure for your property, investing time each day networking and getting that property in front of as many buyers and buyer’s agents as possible.

Just curious to see how your process went, looks like there will be skin in the game for the next Investor.

No peeling paint, cracked windows, loose railings, etc.The danger in any $0 down loan is that sellers fear that the buyer has no skin in the game and could blow out of the deal if a better property came along tomorrow, losing only their $500 down payment.USDA and VA are weaker offers compared to FHA, which is a weaker offer as compared to a conventional loan with a larger down payment.

It was mildly irritating, especially for someone who's understands how this works, but it wasn't so bad that it made the program pointless or of no value. 

You gain experience and ride their better coattails on the money side with some skin in the game too. 

@Timothy Joseph Kiyosaki refers to something called “infinite returns” which is earning a return when you have zero money or skin in the game.

You will have to have skin in the game with the national lenders. you want to look for UPTO 90% of purchase and 100% of rehab. their will be draw fees. typically 200-250 dollars netted out of the draw.

Originally posted by @Teage Staunton:Most of the traditional bank, credit union and portfolio lender you talk to will require you put down 20-25%, some even 30-40% down, as your skin in the game.