Become a gifted gabber.

Appreciate the shoutout @Abel Curiel I would become familiar with the acquisition process and learn about the monthly expenses in your target markets - utilities, property taxes, maintenance, etc.House-hacking is a solid strategy and it's my favorite strategy for getting into the game.

My favorite banker in NYC, Eric Stam, who I highly recommend to anyone in NYC, looks up every address I send him and can let me know quickly what it is eligible for. 

My life has been gifted with such an incredible gift.

@David Emerson if you're getting funds from a family member but it's just going to be you on the loan, the lender is going to want to see a gift letter from the family member saying it's a gift and not a loan with an expectation of being paid back.

Otherwise, its not the end of the world to just declare the money and the investor is effectively gifting you the funds for the down payment.You could/should be able "get around" this with a commercial loan since they don't have to follow the regulations/stipulations of a conforming loan to my understanding.Good luck.

Not the favorite concept for residential lenders (no W-2 income). 

I will not go into details but if someone wanted to give me a building in San Francisco that had existing tenants in it I probably would politely decline due to the fact that you must pay tenants around 5,200.00 or more just to move into your own unit or renovate and a general feeling of tenant favoritism.  

Also, the VA house hack is my favorite real estate strategy for investors, and I absolutely commend you on using it!

My favorite.