If not, the stated return is overstated.The core issue is that once you self-perform substantial portions of the work, the investment is no longer passive, and the cash-on-cash figure is being inflated by uncompensated sweat equity rather than true operating performance.

Agree up front to share profits, put in your sweat equity and get started that way.

(I set it for Florida counties for you: https://publicrecords.netronline.com/state/FL )Once you identify the owners (or in the case where it says the owner is an estate, look on google or legacy.com for an obituary which will provide you with the heirs) use a skiptrace tool like skipgenie.com (who has a cool price point of $99/month for unlimited searches) to find them and see if you can make a deal.By taking these basic steps, you will learn how to actually identify deals, which will be invaluable over your career.On the other hand, anyone not willing to put in this specific sweat equity, will ultimately be robbing themselves of valuable experience and might not be right for this industry in the first place.I truly hope this helps.

It’s also slow and capital-heavy for where you’re at.Waiting until 2027 to deploy because you’re optimizing for the cleanest possible owner-occupied loan is safe, but BRRRR speed usually comes from imperfect capital, not perfect loans.On lending options sooner:You don’t need to write off faster options just because you’re new.What’s commonly available earlier than people think:• Hard money – many lenders care more about the deal and your liquidity than your BRRRR resume• Local portfolio lenders or credit unions – relationship-driven, especially in smaller markets• Private money – often comes from networking, not experience• Partner capital – sweat equity + someone else’s balance sheetThe key is underwriting conservatively so the refi still works even if costs run high.The bigger critique:You’re anchoring too hard on owner-occupied financing as the accelerator.

That will take sweat to find the sellers.

I think the best way is to build a solid contractor network and focus your own sweat equity on cosmetic value adds that do not need permits.Good luck!

And, for those people who have more time than money, they can put in sweat equity into directly owned real estate.

Also are you having reasonable goals and doing some sweat equity to earn the profits. 

But if you're serious about scaling, a few weekends of sweat early on pays dividends.The "straight cash flow rentals" option works too, but out-of-state rentals in 2026 are way different than 2020.

It takes time but you will learn the value of discipline and benefit from sweat equity.