@Matt Bailey,It all depends on your goal and strategy... if you're doing a traditional investment property, banks will want to see 20% down, and 6-months of reserves (including the new mortgage) available.       

Thanks, @Matt Motil - I am actually getting increasingly disheartened about using traditional buy and hold to accomplish my goals. 

New owner).I'm still waiting on my offer to be accepted but before placing an offer, my due diligence was to make sure I had a contingency in place since there are things like ground rent in my area hat I have to also consider as well as an astringent City Code/Housing office that notoriously places liens that don't show up right away.Not sure if this is helpful for you on this current transaction but it may be helpful to spend the few extra hundred dollars for the enhanced title insurance when purchasing in all cash or on non-traditional (I.e REOs//estate/divorce) properties.

I note similar town-homes with traditional tenants rent for $1,200 in the area.The Third property is next-door to the first, and the details are the same.

Is there anything that would make it difficult for us to get a traditional loan after?

However, looks like you're missing the part where the homeowner (seller) gets a piece of that option fee, and what you're talking about is a variation from a traditional lease option, so you'll need to do things a little bit different to account for those variations.Look at it this way - if I'm going to offer you (tenant / Leasee) a 2 yr lease option at 200k:Leasee is going to make a down payment of $20k  (this can be whatever you negotiate).Principal is now $180kMonthly rent payments of $1,300 for 2 years.  

Bridge lenders offer a non-traditional form of financing often referred to as ‘bridge loans’ or ‘hard money’ loans.

Within that year you could refinance to a traditional mortgage and then move out.

Or perhaps I can talk to other lender (like B2R) who more focus on the bankability of the apartment instead of focusing much on my personal DTI as most traditional banks do.

My original plan was to do it through traditional wholesaling.