finding the right fix and flip deal

[Tyler Treadway]

I am new to BP, but really like what I see so far. So a really quick introduction of myself. I am currently in real estate school, and plan to begin a career in real estate as an agent next year. All parties I have talked to regarding starting out in real estate sales have advised to have as little as three months living expenses saved, and some have said as much as a year. Long story short, my wife and I have not been able to save more than a couple hundred here and there since we were married, and in our current livelihood we don't foresee thousands of dollars going into the bank over this next year with our first baby coming and all.

So getting on to my question. I have a lot of handy skills and have remodeled several houses, and also helped flip a house several years ago. Our goal is to fix & flip a house this year, and maybe continue doing fix & flips for extra income as we find deals, for the immediate purpose of gaining the living expenses for several months that we will need as we get started in real estate. 

We already have potentially $70k invested in whatever deal we find. Which I feel is a good starting amount for our first flip. The issue is living where we do in southwest Colorado, not much is out there for under $150k. I have even been keeping my eye out on the Phoenix market where houses are cheaper and there are more foreclosures. The issue I am finding in Phoenix is that even the properties that are listed in the $30-$50k range that need $10-$15k to get them sell-able, don't have a high enough upside to make it worth the risk. Comps in the specific areas of the houses I'm finding are only selling for $20-$25k more than the places I'm finding, and once I pay off my investors and interest and closing fees and renovation costs, most of these properties would only net me $10k, and that's if everything went right. I guess my question is am I miscalculating something? Do I need to be more willing to just take the risk? Or is there somewhere else I should be looking other than just zillow and realtor.com? I just see a property that could be in my range, but then when I do market research and see that it likely won't sell for more than $80k, it scares me away. What do you guys think? Should I be going about this differently?