Need some help on direction

[Daniel Michalik]

So here I am chomping at the bit trying to figure this thing we've come to love(or hate) called Real Estate Investing and I need some HELP. I'll try and keep this short.

I'm at a point where I feel like I've learned enough to get started, I've scoured BP, read the J Scott's books, and am trying to keep up with the podcasts. But for time sake lets lay this out:

I'm 26.

720+ credit

$8k Auto Loan

$2K-ish in savings

Do not own a home

SO with that said, I don't 20% to put down on a SFR rental or multifamily for that matter. An owner occupied multifamily makes the most sense, right? Enter stage left roadblock #1, the few folks I've dealt with(local CUs) require 20% down even for an owner occupied multi family. My intermediate goal at the end of the day is CASHFLOW. I've even found a couple of deals that cashflow pretty well. So how can I make this work? It doesn't make sense to get hard money from a family friend and pay them what cashflow I would make for the next 2 years. Am I missing something? Not structuring the deal right? Or are the deals I'm running across not as good as I think?

Thanks in advance for any and all help!