People who think it's a proverbial skinned elbow are trippin' and haven't grasped the numbers yet IMO.

There are many ways to skin a cat..."

In addition to my rental business I am building in Pierce County as well, with homes typically under contract before completion.You need a representative that has a lot of local knowledge and has skin in the game, ask them to show you their rentals, if they do not own investment property find someone that does.

We were ready to start doing normal house deals and the game plan we came up with (with the help of a friend/mentor) is basically the game plan Lifestyles Unlimited teaches you.Free podcast here: http://www.lifestylesunlimited.com/category/radio_...So you won't know how to do all the fancy stuff and breath of stuff you will know how to do if you do invest in something like Legacy Education, but I think this program will get you to have skin in the game in a really do-able fashion.

I have sometimes seen owners give the prop mgr 10% ownership to have a little skin in the game but they are usually contractors that do a little more than just invoice and collect rents.

When I put "skin in the game", that is when I learned that fastest.

So I require skin in the game (average is 5% to 15%) to offset this.

Hard money may not require as much down, but you'll need some "skin in the game", and its pretty expensive.Is the property livable?

An attorney by even just talking about matters like this specific to your situation has some skin in the game given that they are paid to be authoritative on subjects (at least in terms of communicating risks, the law, etc to their clients).  

@Al Phillips  It's a little unclear from your post but reversing from the numbers it looks like the total purchase price is $140K so if you get 100K loan from the bank and the seller carries a 2nd position note for 40K you expect to get it with no money in it at all.In my experience, banks are not super thrilled about it because they want you to have some skin in  the game and regardless of the second not the underwriters usually ask to see enough for the down payment in your bank account for at least 30-60 days.