It just does not work that way.We also have sellers that do what we call in the business "skin jobs".

As Bill described there are several ways to skin the cat.

As a sponsor, I do not have any "skin in the game", I have not been licensed for a year yet, but eager to jump in.  

Most banks will want a personal guarantee and skin in each deal and reserves.

Throw some skin in the game and pull the trigger.

You need to have a solid understanding of underwriting, assemble the right team (PM, CRE attorney, brokers, bankers, etc), be good at capital raising (which will be no easy task since you haven't done this before), have a strong personal financial statement to qualify for the loan, and finally, have enough of your own capital invested (at least in the first few deals) to convince others you have skin in the game.

My realtor has a very thick skin, some dont.When working the MLS, you're looking for clues that lead you to a motivated seller, but you never know until you make an offer.

Consider that most LPs want the sponsor to have skin in the game, +/-10% is a number you see regularly, and figure that the amount of your own money that you want to risk on your own first deal is equal to about 10% of the total cost of your first property including organizational costs, acquisition costs and reserves.

In a booming economy where it's easy credit was between the years of 2004 and 2006 you can have no skin in the game with Hard money.

Consider working hard to find partners who can 1. look at deals with you 2. help fund them ...I have found the best relationships I have with private money lenders are when I come to the table with both a solid deal under control, and the ability to have some "skin in the game" ...