This is a guest post from Brandon Laughridge.

Many young people aspire to begin investing in real estate because everyone has heard that classic quote, “95% of all millionaires made or keep their money in real estate.”

It’s true that substantial wealth can be generated in your spare time just by making smart and patient real estate decisions, but the real trouble today is financing investment properties.

The first hurdle new investors face is the down payment. In the past few years, investment property down-payment requirements have taken a jump from a low of 5-10% of the purchase price to around 25% today. Lenders are understandably in a fearful mode so down payment ranges on non owner occupied real estate are quite high. Thankfully, there is a silver lining even in today’s mortgage environment – the FHA loan.