There may be other things he can do depending on the facts. 

Being appraisers, we are familiar with estimating "cost to cure" of deficiencies, and we know useful life of short lived items so we can build seller credits into our offers that will help mitigate monthly costs to us for reserves.We are going to take it slow and steady, as I said, with an eye on returns that may not be spectacular but still rival the stock market in a sector of the economy we know well.Thanks for the encouragement @Dave Meyer!!

These types of loans are not dependent upon your income but more on the cash flow of the property itself.

Maybe it won't matter if I'm not depending on the equity of the land to get the loan. 

@Matthew RolfI’m not doing a crash pad I’m house hacking a 5 bedroom house which I will live in here in a few weeks and rent the bedrooms on 1 year leases to pilots and flight attendants I’m personally friends with.

Earning a living in real estate is difficult, which is why nearly 90% of all agents let their license go within two years.

You'll pay no tax on gains below $250k (single) or $500k (married) if you lived there for 2/5 previous years. 

Depending on one's risk tolerance, you can get very good returns and still benefit from real estate's tax advantages as a LP.

I live here as well.

Brother living in top floor, other friend renting out 1st floor.