These types of programs are needed and the default rate I believe is extremely low. 

It is vital to meeting other investor and private money lenders.  

I've been reading several post throughout the website these two have been extremely helpful http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investing/ and http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2010/06/30/introduction-to-real-estate-analysis-investing/ I'm really looking forward to finally starting this chapter of my life.

They were so cheap I could fund them myself. 1) You can get bank loans or loans from traditional lenders like mortgage companies but that is extremely tough to do right now and usually requires substantial down payment. 2) There are Hard money lenders- high interest loans for investors - usually will require a down payment and some of your own funds.3) Some people use money partners.

Will and other respondents-The EXTREMELY low LTV is what I'm basing my profit on.

Even though the motivation doesn't sound extremely strong, I want to leave an offer so he can sit on it.

This question probably sounds extremely basic and silly, but I'm still at that stage - lots of silly questions.

I believe that's statistically extremely unlikely.

Right now it is extremely hard to get any financing for investment properties and yes most banks will want the property to be "seasoned" for 6 months to a year or even more.

In your situation, I would be sure to get the vital information to do your background/credit checks during (or directly after) this phone call, so you can follow up on this after you hang up.