Reusing down payment again....and again......?

[Kenneth E.]

Hey all, I have an interesting hypothetical situation and am curious to get some thoughts.

Components:
1. The goal is to build a highly profitable, cash flowing rental portfolio
2. A family member offers to lend you $50k to start investing (with a payback deadline of 5 years).
3. You also meet a private lender who will lend in two separate ways: Long term (10-15 years) mortgage on investment property at 10% with minimal down payment (this is negotiable, but it’s just so the borrower has SOME skin in the game), or short term (minimum of one year interest guaranteed) at 12% (acepting interest-only payments).
4. You have hooked up with a local guy who has developed a way to identify all local MLS Multi-family properties that that offer the highest returns.

Questions:

How can one maximize the use of the $50k? Is there a way to use it as a down payment, then refi a year later to get it back…then reuse it again as a down payment on another property? I understand this won’t be a “cash-out refi” per se, but what if the 50k is lent to me as a second (position) private mortgage on the property; wouldn’t the refi mean the lender of that mortgage (a family member) would get paid back? Then, they can turn around and do another private mortgage on the next property a year later?

Would you recommend using the 50k (from a family member) as a 20% down payment on a commercial loan, or use the 50k as several smaller down payments on several private mortgages so more properties could be acquired (because the private lender doesn’t require a 20% down payment….just SOME skin in the game, which equates to smaller down payments )?

Sorry if this is confusing. Basically, the question is how to to -maximize- the use of $50k?