Due to a job change, I moved a town over and have begun renting this house out.  

I have already begun finding properties in my area by driving for dollars and sending out letters, and also by obtaining my real estate license in Indiana.

My wife does have a business of her own and I have begun doing some contract work for her here and there, but this really only adds up to a few hours a month for now.

In the past five years, the neighbor's across the street have begun constant construction and remodeling on their house.

I have begun looking at absentee homes in my area and hope to mail off some yellow letters today

The assignments appear to be clear and transparent and the asking price is <40% of the UPB -- they appear to have begun struggling on the payments late last year and early this year, probably due to the divorce proceedings and legal issues -- at present it seems pretty good on paper but this is my first deal so I'm hoping I'm not missing anything.  

Has my grace period of having multiple lenders check my credit officially begun?

From here we will see what I do.I have begun reading The Book On Flipping Houses, so this is my main source of education material aside from these forums, but I am seeing many of the same themes echoed between the two.I will most likely start with HM Loans to begin with (I know this will eat profit) because I don't have any private investors or partners.

Since then I have been educating myself by reading books on real estate investing, reading forum posts, and listening to the BiggerPockets podcast.I am currently working with a local real estate agent and have been begun to start analyzing deals on the MLS.

I have begun reading recommended books and listening to the podcasts during commutes and down times at work.Looks like the consensus about one of the most vital parts of beginning and being in this business is networking.