I’d go with a GC and hire your Architect to Project Manage it as well & you should stick your nose in every meeting and learn as much as you can. In

Obviously that is a low amount for a first property of around $150k, but I'm saving as much as I can in the meantime while eyeing a 20% down payment on my first property. 

Generally for rental properties, owners have had to make updates and repairs over the years so they’re not in too bad a shape.The only regular exception to that I see a lot is knob & tube wiring still in the walls, basement and attic, and often still active (though owners will always say it’s not).Banks and insurance companies really don’t like knob and tube so you can either try to get the owner to remove it (fat chance in this market) or buy with private/hard money, remove the knob and tube, and then refinance to a regular bank loan.Sometimes people get away with lying to their insurance company and hoping the bank appraiser doesn’t notice it (they often don’t, since they do a fairly cursory inspection) and then removing it first thing after closing.

It also helps in stopping you from temptation as refinance will directly put FAT STACKS in your bank account TAX FREE.

Should I just try to get everything I can in the beginning, or will that ultimately hurt my growth potential?   

I have a wide range of thin fat as interest.

I am also meeting at my local REIA to network and connect with as many real estate professionals as I can. In

If your hoa allows it which i assume is a fat no. 

Needless to say I want to expand this portfolio as much as I can in order to take advantage of this ROI.Current Dilemma: I have sent cold letters to the homes in an attempt to identify potential sales not available on the MLS, but to no avail.

And much like that we will pay likely lose interest after 6 months and go back to being fat and useless.