It is ironic that the "elite" program costs as much or money as it would take to get into Real Estate. 

True CRE lenders understand commercial real estate and have very flexible programs that are geared for exactly what you are doing.  

A lot of good programs out there for 1st time buyers and $10K is a nice amount for a property in IL/MO.

You'd be surprised on the types of loan programs out there that might meet your needs.

Is there a really great program or app that doesn't cost very much (keep in mind I only have one rental at the moment and will be growing to 2-5 within a couple years).  

(I can produce a list of pre-forclosure houses in the area I'm marketing to with a program I bought) but in the eventuality that someone picks up the phone and dials me, how then can I be sure that I don't waste my time and money on making sure that the lead is a actually a deal in disguise?

I always say "be wary of people selling you a how to program, because if it was really all that successful, they would be out there doing that instead of selling books and webinars and guides!"

Basically a buyback program minus payments in the event of foreclosure or before foreclosure.

I will be using the GA Dream program (down payment assistance) or a USDA loan to begin my REI journey.

Gutierrez When we're talking about house hacking, I'm assuming you're looking at loan programs that offer the lowest down payments.