To me a PM is a waste for small properties unless you have tons of them or don't have any time at all.

I doubt a city would waste their time on that.

Before wasting time looking for properties or spending a lot of time on projects, they should make sure they can get the financing because a) financing might not be available, b) they might not qualify or c) the cost of debt might be prohibitively right.Another mistake investors make is believe that they can apply a US strategy or financing model overseas.

Wasting our VA benefits on a bad property is actually my biggest fear, which is why I'm not sure if we should purchase a home at our next location.

No one will probably tell you they wasted their money on something like this.   

So you too need to develop some reserve accounts - one for repairs, and also one for property taxes and property insurance payments - which are big expenses that are due once a year, but your seller will likely not collect like a bank might escrow for you.Know that seller financing gives you lots of options to negotiate your deal - but that cuts both ways.  

I don't know any private lenders and hard money makes me nervous since I'm a buy and hold guy and the payback isn't as cut and dry as it is on a fix and flip.

What is the prospect that insurance or tax costs will be cut 30%?     

In other words, a wholesaler needs to find a deal where they can get the property under contract for an amount that is low enough that they can not only cut themselves in on the deal (assignment fee, etc), but also pitch it to an investor who sees enough profit in the deal to be worth it to buy it from the wholesaler.  

I love Bigger Pockets because 99.9% of the posts on here are legitimate, and the very few that aren't, quickly get cut off by the eagle-eyed forum moderators.