Nice to see a fellow Samoan on here, and it looks like you've already got skin in the game.

Being a person who struggles to take action - having "skin in the game" was what I needed and now I am about to list my first flip in a couple weeks here.

It didn't quite hit me until you mentioned when I refinanced, I would have a lower skin in the game which would drive the COC-ROI percent up as well.

You gotta have skin in the game or nobody is going to deal with you

But both parties need to keep skin in the game. 

Many good suggestions above -- there are many ways to skin a cat in the REI world. 

If there was room to earn more 'skin in the game' by any other time, strategy, or management aspects, I'd be up for that too, but just the learning experience of seeing a small multi build through to completion would be amazing as I plan to do exactly that with my own somewhat conservatively leveraged capital down the road. 

They will, however, expect you to have more skin in the game (i.e. more of your own money) and may charge higher rates and points to mitigate their risk. 

Lenders want to know you have "skin in the game" in other words you are investing Your money not money given to you or borrowed. 

Banks don’t like to participate in 100% financed deals because then there is no skin in the game.