For first flips better to start with a  small cosmetic rehab  until you get to know the process and the team well.

If it has any basis at all (such as you left the apartment during your lease term for what you felt was a justifiable reason and stopped paying rent, but the landlord disagreed) then you may be better off paying a rather small settlement.  

Love to keep relator out of it, but may need realtor to find a next deal for me as a duplex up to 4 plex on VA loan/owner occupy.

Buy a duplex, triplex, or quadplex with an FHA loan and live in one unit.

Don't get me wrong, I want to support small business, but it is substantially more to go this way.

Preforeclosure owner finance wrap, paid off the default payments and taxes with cash and assumed the owners loan.

Quote from @Chris Seveney: Over the past quarter, I have seen around $1B in defaulted fix and flip loans - many of these from new lenders since 2020 and more of a "tech platform".As we all know, the intersection of tech and real estate investing has brought incredible innovation, especially in hard money lending.

Proper underwriting - this includes an appraisal, loan app and full underwriting to comply with CFPB regulations.2.

We decided I’d utilize an FHA loan to buy my first property.

All that to say, I really like small multifamily for MTR.