Because buying a house in excellent condition and then totally changing the layout can be expensive, especially if it's involving load supporting walls. 

Then connect with some hard money lenders (you can find some here on BP as well as some who are typing this right now) and connect with them to understand their product type, what they like to lend on and requirements.Hard money broker is all numbers game of making relationships and helping those that are looking for financing, it starts out slow but if you get with a few good borrowers and lenders it can be pretty decent money to be made.As an example we paid six figures last year to HM brokers. 

.- Working a W2 as a firefighter, posting and consuming content- Leaving my W2 to dive deep into real estate investing and working as an agent... and still watching/posting content all while business was ok - Deleting social media apps (one have one on my phone that I use 10 minutes or less a day), diving deep into building my business and skills which have drastically increased due to pure focus and increasing my business significantly- moral of the story... focus on the things you need to do in business (dollar productive activities) and life experiences while reducing consumption will increase your success  

Depending on the property far more than the acquisition price may be required and that will also dictate the best loan product. 

Many judges would feel you got paid even if no cash was sent to you.I could see this potentially working on a higher-end property that it in excellent condition with a Grade A tenant.  

A 1031 exchange allows you to defer taxes by exchanging real property held for productive use in a trade or business or for investment for other real property of like kind, which is also to be held for similar purposes.

Great tools that get updated regularly.I am on the lending side of things and would be happy to hop on a call with you anytime to discuss financial strategies and help answer any questions you may have about nearly any loan product available to help you on your journey, even if they are not products my capital partners offer.We are all here to help you learn and grow.

The founder appears to have been involved in businesses outside of real estate: ‘My dream is a locally made grooming products business’ | People | nashvillepost.comSo it does not appear there is a lot of track record there, but those are questions I would ask.

In general, Cleveland is an excellent market to purchase rentals. 

Excellent point Drew!