I did not have a lot of resources at the time to do anything except hang on by the skin of my teeth and rent out the tired home with the most minimal of repairs at a lower than market rate.  

Matthew Forbes is your 10800 assuming 100% financing usually they want skin in the game.

You're going to need a thick skin and a great team to make it work over the long run.

The first will be well secured at 80% of the current market value as long as the buyer has at least 10% real skin in the game.

So just to clarify, even with the hard money route and all those associated fees that come along with it, I would still be able to get the deal done with $20,000 "skin in the game" and yield a profit?

I suggest you grow thick skin and count yourself lucky if she moves in 30 days.

For example, let's say Mary Smith fills out an application to rent my property and puts down her boyfriend, Jim, as her "landlord", who has been previously briefed to give her a glowing recommendation.

A seller that doesn't want a buyer to have any skin the game is wanting to get out of a very bad situation.

All I had to do at that point was plug them into my existing system.You need thick skin in this business but I think most of the money from it is made by creating a system that manages your own portfolio well, not other people's portfolios, especially in multifamily. 

@Daniel Lioz I certainly think it would help your appraisal, and somewhat depends on the quality of the lease/tenant for the eyes of the bank and appraiser.I think you're somewhat asking if you can get in the purchase with no money-down because of the value add, no probably not, because the bank will want to see skin in the game.