Thoughts on the environment? 

Faced with this challenging environment to kick things off, what would you do?

look on airdna for rental data, just be aware the explosion of hosts has created a glut, and low prices in some cities, so it is a very competitive environment. 

Shooting for purchasing in August.VALUE-ADD: I am motivated and capable, and have experience property managing in a working class, urban environment.

I haven't researched Victoria or Chase City at all so I can't speak to those.I am in the MBA at VCU and we just had a class on the economic environment in small towns across Virginia (South Boston and Emporia specifically were mentioned) having a terrible effect on the housing demand in those areas. 

A private money or pure asset based hard money lender may be a better option since they aren't bound by the same regulatory environment as a bank.

That is more likely to be a higher pressure environment.

In the current financing environment you would think that condos and townhomes are perfect price range for first time buyers, but few are FHA approved any more and some are what we call non-warrantable which makes financing more difficult. 

Then you could invest the equity you successfully freed up from a cash out refi into other assets that generate a return greater than the mortgage rate (which shouldn't be hard to do in the current low interest rate environment).

You can use the synergy between the networking events, license real estate opportunities, with your own determination to create an environment of opportunity for yourself in a short period of time.