You get into out of this what you put in, don't treat it like a hobby and something you do in your spare time. 

Spare me the 1% "Pay Option" negative amortization loans.

I don't usually buy anything at these type of events, but it's good to know what's out there and then you do your research when you have spare time to see if it's worth it and of course find a cheaper place to buy it.

I'll spare the details, but suffice it to say, it was not a money maker.

I'm wanting to get started getting my feet wet and REI and have about 40k in cash that I can spare to invest.

So you approach them all and you hit them up for $5k as an investment in your flip, or whatever they can spare.

This is going to be in our spare time at first (nights, weekends, etc.).

He looked through it in his spare time and found a home for sale in his rental property area.

If that's what you mean, then you should not do another deal because you're bleeding so bad on the first one you need all the money you can spare to support it.

There were only goat trails through the main parts of the home, but the basements, spare bedrooms and 3 car garage were packed almost to the ceiling.