Following David Green's Core 4 strategy (realtor, contractor, property manager, and lender) gives confidence to invest anywhere.

Although forthcoming and we appreciate the honesty, it does not build confidence in the process.

If the deal is good enough and you are confident about the profit potential, you can always use credit cards as a short term cash source as well.I'm also relatively new to this, but have recently jumped into the game.

Looking online and running numbers when you aren't looking at anything in real life will never give you the confidence to pull the trigger.

My realtor seemed a little miffed, but I have 17 days to get the appraisal done before closing and my MLO is confident we can get it done in time

It may be time-consuming, but if you do your research and confirm there are no challenges, you can proceed confidently.

If you're serious & confident you can lease your properties up in time, you may want to consider putting significant rent money and EMD up front.Feel free to shoot me a pm or give me a buzz at contact info in bio - always down for a chat!

Personally I’ve stuck with SFH to avoid tenant on tenant conflict but thsi will let you find out if “the juice is worth the squeeze: with very little risk. 1) I assume you’re getting a least a few percent off for not involving a realtor.2) I assume you feel confident with the value (maybe ask a local banker what they would lend you on the property and even lay for an appraisal.)3) this is all assuming that this is a small investment to you as I’ve described above, not most of your savings and all of your operating cushion. 

And if you can’t develop potential revenue numbers with some level of confidence, you are taking a big risk (or leap of faith) in buying any property.

In my honest opinion if you aren't confident enough in your knowledge, network, and abilities to make the decision to self manage an easy one, then hire it out to a pro.