Hi tbone.
I am very boring and a conservative RE investor. As soon as I hear 100% leverage my heart goes booombooomboom! I would recommend to have some cash in hand before going in any direction of investing in RE.
But, I actually wanted to point something else out, what I am doing from time to time if I have the right property and partner. I mentioned it a couple posts here already, but continue because I like it.
Do a Joint Venture with someone who is professionally already in RE investing. You could do the standard JV, where both parties give a down payment and one is doing the paper work and gets a bit more cash in return
or
a JV where you are the money partner and the pro is a finding partner. In short, you bring cash and are on title of the property and do not have to handle daily business and the finding partner has a caution on title, does the work and you share the positive cash flow 50/50.....60/40... whatever you work out.
I have two JVs like this. One where I am the money partner (and getting approx. 11% ROI + appreciation) and one where I am the finding partner (and where I pay 12% ROI to my MoneyPartner and he has the appreciation).
I don't have an JV to offer, nor I want to convince you to do this, but I think it is a great investment vehicle if you don't want to have the hassle of a landlord (which is quite a thing here in Ontario) and don't want to invest in a REIT, which I wouldn't do as they are mostly heavily invested in commercial RE.
Doing a JV? Be careful and pick a potential partner wisely as you are "married" to him for a couple years. Do your due diligence in regards of the property.
Condos are, FMPOV, a bad deal as they are too expensive to positive cash flow and the market is too hot there. Have a look at multi-family homes- if you have a 5plex, it is not that bad if one apartment is vacant. If the condo is vacant you will end with ZERO income, but still have all the expenses....