Honestly I think WL is only for people who are already well established with lots of cash flow and a lot of assets.

Establish your buy box and really get to know the territory in the specific area you are looking at and then trust, but VERIFY

If you have enough funds in an IRA the alternative would be to establish a self-directed IRA, and have the IRA buy the property subject to existing financing (if your sister is willing to do that), you personally can't assume the mortgage b/c you are not allowed to provide a personal guarantee for IRA-owned property and have the IRA pay your sister for the equity.

If you really want the property and don't mind a small gamble put down an amount of earnest money that you will not be upset to lose and that if you were in the seller's shoes would make you feel OK about taking the property off the market for 60 days and make it non-refundable to be conveyed to Seller upon offer acceptance. 

He came back and said that discussing price discounts that he's established with vendors wasn't appropriate.  

If you look OOS establish a team and learn the area before diving into a deal. 

I had a few appraisals come back from Akron/Clv markets and had the appraiser comment that it is a "down market".If you are targeting the 50k purchases with the 20k rehab and then hopping to refi out afterward you are taking a gamble because if you do not get the 100k value after the rehab you can get stuck in the project or be forced to take a mortgage with a terrible rate.Keep your purchases 80k and up and try to make sure your project costs are over 100k on everything so you can be pretty confident that you'll get the 100k value afterward.

Establishing rapport during property tours can lead to valuable insights and hidden opportunities.

Others will reject the idea because you can't produce an income for their office and will likely be a taker, not a maker.My suggestion is to get a job with an established property management company.

We seed Roths for our motivated nieces and nephews and plan to establish college and 1st home purchase funds for our future grandkids and grand nieces and nephews.