Lots of responses.
So, somewhere I saw somebody mention only 20k in income. That's just myself. My wife made a lot more than that.
As a quick side note, we'd almost be able to buy this property if we hadn't bought a large piece of property cash earlier this year. We never thought this house would be in our price range (we've known about it since it was first foreclosed on many years ago) With the sweat equity and the lower cost of living than my current rental, our future would take an even bigger turn towards the better. The fact that I'd have a garage wouldn't hurt either.
I'm not ACTUALLY wanting a huge unsecured loan. I"m trying to figure out HOW to buy this property. What I WANT, is a large SECURED loan, however the bank does not want to "waste time" with financing because they don't believe it will qualify..... this is where the issue comes in. People have tried to buy the property (I assume) with financing before and it fell through. It is an REO and does not qualify for FHA loan criteria as it sits. I can do all the work but the roof (which ISN'T leaking, but will need to be done soon). I truly do know the downs on the property, the biggest two being that it is a foreclosure and has (relatively) normal foreclosure type issues. Thermostats were removed by previous owner, small damage here and there, deck has broken beam, and it will need a roof but can wait until warm weaather. Second issue is that neighbor's property you *currently* need to drive by doesn't look so good. (That would eventually be changed)
The house *should* qualify for a 203k loan with 30k in repairs, but the bank thinks the repair cost is more than 30k. (I guess maybe they're right if I have to sub EVERY-SINGLE-THING out) This is why they want "no financing". Which means cash as far as I can tell.
In my dream scenario, I'd get a 200k interest only loan at 10% for 1 year, secured by the property. I CAN get the house ready to refinance RAPIDLY, but at 10% interest only, the payments are only slightly more than my mortgage, so it would buy me some time to do things that don't NEED to be done, but would be nice (not driving by said neighbor). Also, 10% is better than normal investments afaik, so I would think not rapidly refinancing would be in the lender's best interest as well, especially since the security (house) would be worth increasing value as time goes on.
Now, I know this dream scenario doesn't exist. But there are hard money lenders out there. I've spoken with them, and the house meets their criteria. If the bank rejects my next offer (with hard money) this week, then they DO in fact want physical, cashier's check or stacks of 20's. (Realistically, they just want somebody who HAS the cash to buy it outright)