Put as little money in as you can to buy it, but if you are buying in a location where you expect prices to drop 20%...why would you buy there? 

And because in general I don't want a bunch of sketch/crappy places taking money from people and providing nothing in exchange.Sorry that you would like to keep it to bashing people only but I think it is important for everyone who will read this to know that some people have had good experiences with them.

And no matter how you try hard to be kind, people don't always see things from the Landlord's perspective when it comes down to money.

If you don't have sponsorship, by definition you don't have a deal - full stop. in some aspects, but but I'd argue in development you have to find land and partners at the same time. you have to have a competitive advantage and local knowledge. may not apply and probably different sectors. we break development up into multiple raises like Series A, Series B, etc in venture debt and discount equity tranches based on what stage the investor comes in for higher returns it's earlier like when we are investing in engineering services etc we recapitalize and spend our money with an equity sale and recapitalization. structured finance is so interesting 

Is there a way to offer and buy a property for cash (either private or hard money) then refi into a mortgage at 95% LTV?

I don't think Hard Money is risky at all. 

Is anyone using money market funds for this purpose?

Hire a great real estate agent and let them help you- that's the best thing you can do to make more money. 

I would not play around with creative finance in terms of spending time trying to find it because it will end up not being the best use of your time unless you have marketing money and understand the different scripts and way you can help people with seller finance or sub to.

Also, since it is nearby the LA county areas, how does earnest money work?