@Chris Seveney, I’ve seen the same: anything below 1.0 rarely gets over the finish line unless there’s serious skin in the game or a story that makes the lender comfortable.

Having skin in the game is better than having no skin in the game.

I want to get skin in the game and have feelings of FOMO waiting, but at the same time it feels like I could be rushing into a headache all at once. 

But my favorite sponsors aren't from here.I'm a conservative investor, so when I invest in multi-family I prefer sponsors that have at least one full real-estate cycle of experience, little to no money lost, low leverage, and high skin in the game.And there is a multi-family operator that has multiple real estate cycles of experience (decades) and it's track record claims no money lost in that time.

It's best to start with long term rentals so you can get some skin in the game.

Lets get on a call and discuss your options Fix and flip can be a great way to make some cash if your able to do your own work which it sounds like you did but not having any "skin" in the game is a tall order,  lenders are going to want to see your own cash in a deal 

Brandon We work with several but they will not typically go above 60% of bid to make sure you have skin in hte game. 

I have been having problems getting kicked off the system after writing a response so I just put one sentance up to test it .. still weird but worked.1. back ground check  no one with bad history.2. meet in person 99% of the time3. fly to the market review the projects they have done and are contimplating.4. some skin to start then we do true JV deals IE our money their work.

For a first-time flip like this, having some skin in the game is important, and a lender can then cover the rest.

Short answer:  it is baked into the business model.Long answer:It seems you may be overly concerned on the transitory nature of apartment renters versus single family renters.