I find investing in real estate to be much like doing a 1000 piece puzzle.

I will tell you the application will absolutely take longer than a minute and while we have closed in less than 3 weeks, it's truthfully like a Chinese fire drill to make sure all of the pieces to the puzzle will come together in that time frame.  

My success has been limited (non-existent) so far, I have had one very angry call (haha - I guess that is part of the deal), and a couple of other exploratory calls from others.  

Your first sentence left me puzzled.

Puzzled, she went to the back door and luckily it was unlocked.

Cash flow is important, but it's only part of the puzzle. you should care greatly about cashflow, rates of return, leverage utilization, created equity, etc.

He likely meant private money, that's what had me a bit puzzled.

However, I feel a piece of the puzzle that is missing is some sort of mentorship, or an experienced member/mentor that could I could go to with questions about the Atlanta area real estate market in general.

From what I've read here on BP, there is a lot of competition in the area for everything, and getting workers, subs and materials is probably quite a puzzle.

They are also less than $30k, so I will most likely not be able to obtain financing.My question is, if I am able to find a way to purchase the 2 properties, should I ignore the appreciation piece of the puzzle and just go for cash flow?