Others may have personal experience to share.

This is the fork where I'm not sure if I'd be good to get some CRE exp and invest in learning about how to review deals for the next 2-3 years, or focus on generating revenue for investment purposes and watch how things are done as a LP.My personality more aligns with networking, reaching out to people, connecting, navigating difficult situations and finding solutions that work.

I personally own in Racine, and I am expanding my portfolio into Milwaukee. 

What are the usual lending parameters for a person getting there first property with roughly a 700-730 Credit Score and trying to secure a home 200k or under? 

After hearing about, and personally encountering some horror stories of disagreements between homeowners and contractors, I am wanting to establish a clear contract to use with a new general contractor. 

We are now at 21 doors under management and 3 are personal units that we self manage.

@Shawn Questa I agree with you that there could be some opportunity here, but personally, with that little equity in the property, I'd wait for the pre-foreclosure process to start and  perhaps you can do a short sale (though I don't know the details on how that's handled in TX).

I actually plan to put money down, but don't have a frame of reference yet of what a specific % looks like. 

You will never pay more tax in recapture than what you originally deferred, assuming your personal tax rate stays the same.

Personally, I've bought older homes since I invest in mobile homes myself.