While there are certainly opportunities for finding trades and deals in these areas, they’re often pursued by local, mom-and-pop operations.

I think I was having a hard time seeing the value of turnkey properties because of my personality style with regards to investing and wanting to trade up quickly.

We have trades we use on jobs and know what they will charge which is often considerably less than what Joe Homeowner would pay for the same job . . . the trades know we will be using them again and again. 

(https://rent-remind.com/)Tenantcloud: Yet another jack of all trades app.

Look into getting into a skilled trade as an electrician or a plumber Work more spend less.$10,000 might seem like a lot to you and it is to your circumstances but its doable.Good Luck!

I was frustrated interviewing professionals to find out I often knew more than they did (specific to real estate) only because I am always reading and continuing to learn my trade to the best of my ability.  

Unless of course you are in the trades and need something like a work van.

I've done this so many times it is crazy, so speak with experience.Also in small towns trades can be tricky. 

Truthfully, I loved QB, but I am an accountant by trade.

This also helped us in an unattended way when investing with my Solo 401k because banks treated the funds as liquid when invested in a public traded exchange versus in their fund and helped with securing better commercial financing on a deal because of the strength of our application in liquid assets.