New Member from Youngstown, Ohio!

[Alexa K.]

Hello all! I've been lurking around the forums and reading up on all the great guides that BP has to offer and finally decided that perhaps I should jump in and introduce myself. I'm a 22 year old full-time college student from the northeastern Ohio area and I'm hoping to dive into the world of REI within the next few months!

I've always had a passion for real estate ever since I was a kid, but I never really knew how to turn my love and appreciation of real estate into something more tangible aside from long drives through old historic neighborhoods and dreaming loftily of building my own student housing complex, but thanks to the BP community (and also growing up, haha) I'm really looking forward to actually purchasing my first fix and flip and/or rental property!

Aside from that, I would love to find a sort of mentor in my surrounding area that I can be a sort of assistant and offer my time/labor to so that I can learn the ins and outs of rental and/or fix and flip properties. I also really want to learn home remodeling and construction as that is something else I'm very interested in; doing the work myself. I'm not too sure how to go about finding someone to teach me the latter, however. Perhaps Craigslist, but I'm a bit sketched out to meet someone from there. 

Question: For SFR investment loans, is it possible to obtain a mortgage of less than 12k? And if so, would it be worth going that route with 20% down, or would it make more sense to purchase the property outright in cash? I have a credit score of 770 if that makes a difference.