I'm typically very conservative in my investments, but to make the 20 or 25% downpayment, I don't want to sell stocks or borrow from my 401k.1) have you ever taken a "personal loan" from a bank to help fund a downpayment? 

I just have hard time seeing 3-5K sitting in a bank savings account losing money YoY, but I guess anything outside of that like a CD either locks up the money, stocks, bonds, mutual funds have risk, and crowdfunding also.Thanks for the input, this is why I really like posting on BP, multiple views and things I might be overlooking.

David this list is quite flawed96 though 99  is Stockton modesto fresno Bakersfield  LOL.. not exactly garden spots..

We are at the exact same spot so maybe we can partner to get moving faster!

Sean Bell the story told by Jay Hinrichs is spot on.

The tenant originally stated he had gambling issues and today when he called he said he had money invested in the USA stock market which 'is taking a long time to clear' this seems like an unlikely story and another ploy to extend the eviction process.

@Steve Anderson - I have started to run mock numbers and what you say about math will tell you about the decision is spot on!

You may be able to do the deal without but if the rehab costs exceed your estimates (they probably will) then you will be in a bad spot.

Anyway if you can make a trip to see each of those properties at least once or twice a year then some of this might not even matter because you can spot out issues when you do your walk-throughs and ask your property manager to fix them.

@Jason Ma John is pretty spot on except that on a FHA 30 Year Fixed, PMI no longer cancels on an FHA loan.