I'll look more into hybrid/segmented special assessments.You'd think lenders would be mostly okay with these, since while it's true that only a portion of the units are responsible for repayment, the loan amount itself (their risk/skin in the game) is lowered by the same factor (slashed in half in my case).I know this is silly and I probably won't go down that route, but part of me is thinking, "I'll be the lender myself - I'll give them a less predatory (but still win-win) interest rate - if anyone has to collect interest here, why not it be me?"

Going to need a blanket loan to fund them.   

Commercial require you to have at least 20% skin in the game correct?

Obviously, if you can find something that works at a lower price point it is going to tie up less money.For an investment property I just assume I am going to need 25% down.You can structure your offers to have the seller pay some of your closing costs to cut down on the down payment.I know you said you don't want to go the house hack route, but that would help in two ways.  1 - the down payment on the 1st deal could be much lower, and 2 - you could get a HELOC on your primary residence for the down payments on subsequent deals. 

I would want my son to have some skin in the game regarding down payment and on the other hand if I was him I wouldn't want to do a live-in reno and have to pay rent. 

The most immediate take-away from this site for me when I first started posting on here was needing to develop thicker skin.

If the email tone feels generic, robotic, or out of touch, especially in the context of a company already providing bad service then it can make tenants feel like they’re just another number.

But with the shift in his tone and response via text, I’m not sure how to feel.

This is the prospect's skin in the game. 

I stick with neutral tones but like to add some visual interest without overdoing it.