It sounds like you want more time, so active investing such as flipping or rehabbing might not be ideal.

PropertRadar has been a huge help in helping to identify lien position and active foreclosure auctions.

Unfortunately many lenders will see this as a red flag and may not take the risk to lend you the rest of the money even if you use stated income program or bank statement program but those are for self employed borrowers who have active income from their business but write off to many expenses that when filling their taxes their net income is really low or sometimes negative.

If it’s a larger or commercial property, consider conducting an environmental check to assess potential risks like contamination or flooding.It’s also important to request a full property disclosure from the seller, which may include known issues or defects with the property.

This comes with time and experience but a book that helped me tremendously (not really a sales book, though) was "Boundaries" by Henry Cloud.The most common challenges for RE Agents early relate to generating leads and focusing on income producing activity.I would consider spending 50-75% of your side-hustle time on income generating activities. 

Another thing to keep in mind is to make sure you have an active income to help you have more options in terms of the strategy you will use to begin investing.

Also, I know those who’ve gotten hit with special assessments that wiped away cash flow and some. 

The additional income from STR could justify the renovation costs, but it requires active management and market awareness.LTR or Break-Even Strategy: Renting long-term might simplify things, but if it only breaks even, you’re right to consider if appreciation is enough motivation to hold.DIY Basement: DIYing the basement could increase STR appeal without the full $50K outlay, especially if extra space attracts more bookings.

Establishing a great relationship with a mentor or group that is actively doing this would be great!

So, we obtaina full credit report and review collections, chargeoffs, age of credit accounts, active accounts, etc.to build an overall credit evaluation.FICO ScorePct of PopulationDefault Probability800 or more13.00%1.00%750-79927.00%1.00%700-74918.00%4.40%650-69915.00%8.90%600-64912.00%15.80%550-5998.00%22.50%500-5495.00%28.40%Less than 4992.00%41.00%Source: Fair Isaac CompanyPublic RecordsWe also obtain data from national databases about evictions, convictions and sex-offender histories.