You can hear real-world examples of how others have built their investment portfolio and (hopefully) learn to avoid their mistakes.

The challenge is knowing if the listing agent actually tells your offer to the seller or not.For example, if a distressed property is $650k and you want to offer $620k, the listing agent says the lowest the seller may accept is $645k, but is that actually true or made up because the listing agent wants their commission?

For example, when I first starting investing I connected with investors from BP. 

For example, a buyer putting 20% down on a $500k home would pay around $500k in interest over the life of a typical mortgage at current rate around 6.5%.

Don't forget to account for the cost of the appraisal or any other vendors...an appraisal and survey will over $1000 combined, for example. 

Example if 3 years then say 13% return each year?  

I'm just thinking for example apt build. 

After transitioning all four residential tenants, we gutted each apartment and started fresh.

Even with very little cash on hand, you can get creative financing; for example, I did my first flip renovation with a new business Credit card one year with 0.00% APR, paid everything back after the sale, and got points and signup bonuses.

I have an example from my own experience, radio channel is a great avenue for deals (maybe in your market, I would look into it), and in many markets, it crushes.