It usually refers to owning or buying a property and having very little cash or equity in the property.

He might be referring to the fact that as an investor owned property in MI you don’t qualify for the homestead tax credit.  

I'd also strongly advice doing your due diligence and speaking with references, past landlords, and I would probably ask for some business contacts. 

Reference HUD SFH 4000.1 for FHA 203k guidelines. 

@Toye AdeyemoMy contract explicitly defines normal closing costs as section 1100 of the HUD form.

I'd like to get to the point where we are working on 1-2 buy and hold properties while simultaneously working on 1-2 flips so we can raise the amount of capital we have on hand to eventually be able to phase out hard money/banks (at least in reference to the SFH purchases). 

I fully vetted my contractor by checking reference yet he didn't produce.

I'm very aware of the difficulties and successes of REI because my father is a successful investor in the South Florida area, in fact, he referred me to this website. 

I'd like to get to the point where we are working on 1-2 buy and hold properties while simultaneously working on 1-2 flips so we can raise the amount of capital we have on hand to eventually be able to phase out hard money/banks (at least in reference to the SFH purchases).Our options look kind of like this: 1.

The realtor I'm referring to is one in CT that I have known for years and is fantastic tops for his area.