New Investor in Atlanta, Ready to Begin

[Anthony C.]

Hello everyone! I have been lurking on and off on BP.com and have listened to a dozen or so podcasts/webinars. I have been compiling my goals and plans for beginning my real estate investments and I just want to run through them here for you guys and gals to comment on. Currently, I own one home in SC that is rented but I did not buy it to be an investment property. It kind of fell into my lap that way and I am currently making about $200/mo on it. 

Before I list my goals, let me help paint my picture a little. I owe about $1500 in credit card debt that is (mostly) revolving debt from bills. I owe $6300 on my car. I have a very well planned out budget that my wife and I have stuck to and it has helped us tremendously. Come January 1st, 2016, I will only have my wife's car payment, my current home mortgage, and my rental in SC (although that is paying for itself). SO...this will leave me with around $1500 (+- $200) each month of disposable income to use for investing after all my bills are paid and we pay ourselves (savings/retirement). As of now, I have roughly $10k that I can use as a down payment but i really prefer to use no more than about $6k. 

Goals for 2016:

1) Pay off my car, have less than $750 credit card debt, all revolving. 

2) I want to own 8 doors producing $200/door. I prefer multifamily over single family but that will not scare me away from a deal. My SC home cost $125k with mortgage at $850/mo so I have an idea of what I can afford. ALSO, I want my first few doors to be "turn-key." I would like to buy something that all ready has a tenant in good standing. 

3) I would like my first 1-2 homes to be in the $50k-$80k range. I love the BP.com BRRR and this is my goal for the first few doors/homes, depending on the type of home. I plan to buy and hold for a few years only, market depending.

4) Not sure how realistic this goal is, but if i shoot for the moon and only hit the international space station, well that's okay, because I'm still way above Everest. I want to buy and flip at least 2 homes for 2016. I want to do a flip after I own at least 3-4 doors. I want this to be more of a learning experience than a wicked profit experience. Since I am in the low end of the market ($50k-$80k) to begin, I think $5k-$7k profit is realistic, after closing costs, ect. I know I will make mistakes, I know I might lose out, but I will have learned 100% more than if I do not even try. For some areas I will contract out and others I will do myself. Of course, it all depends. 

So what do I need to know:

-Where does the money come from!? For the flips I wish to pursue a 203k loan. I am not confident in a hard money lender due to the fact that I have no experience. For the income properties, I really have no clue. Can I get a traditional loan? I feel like I will not have enough of a down payment. A $60k loan at 20% is $12k and this is a little over my budget. 

-This question is more for Atlanta folks: Who can I get to manage my property? What are some of the good companies out there? I am perfectly fine with hiring a property manager. They can take the 10% off the top. My wife and I work full time (for now) and I am not ready to be a land lord. My SC home is being managed for 8% and we still make $200/mo on it. 

- Last question for, well, the next hour. I have done some google searches and read a few blogs on here about how to find properties. I know of zillow and trulia, but have any of you found great companies that list relatively cheap houses and that are not trying to gouge us (soon to be) investors?  

Thank you all in advanced! Hopefully this post becomes the beginning of a long and epic journey!