I think @Steve Vaughan hit the nail on the head in terms of your drywall issue.  

Kevin F.has hit the nail on the head.  

Make sure you nail your numbers and have a couple of exit strategies.

This recent flip I posted about yesterday in San Antonio showed me how really important it is to work with experienced people who nail the rehab costs.

For example, they won't pay the HOA, they won't pay the seller/borrower's tax liens, they won't allow any funds to go to a jr. lien holder or they put a cap on the amount, they won't allow the seller to benefit from the sale, etc.  

I would use the 10% cap on the current NOI, but you still have to crib the numbers like @aaron montague did an awesome job of above.  

@Bob Malecki nailed one of easiest and most straightforward methods early in the thread, i.e., form a business entity with other experienced note investors, pool your funds and buy some notes.If you want to leverage funds from passive investors who will not be actively involved in the selection and management of assets, the proper way to do it is to form a 506 reg D fund.  

The bitter agents probably not only didn't know how to deal with investor deals but also didn't know how to recognize or advise new investors.Ned hit the nail on the head!  

@Guy Gimenez You hit the nail on the head. 

They just recently nailed former speaker of the house for "structuring" hush money payments