If you aren't making calls, the chances you will get a deal are quite low.

He needs properties and connecting with agents is a very low cost way to get properties, as Realtors are trusted sources for motivated sellers and naturally get deals brought to them.

 @Nathan Gesner Funny you should say that as that is what we did yesterday ..we actually lowered it to $1685 and it looks like we have a renter  hopefully  ( fingers crossed ).Income verified , credit score etc It’s a bit low for me but we can get the mortgage paid, the heloc payments and the roof payments and still put some cash flow in  reserves each month as we will pencil out a bit.

Home depot and Lowes, two of our biggest creditors are great about working with small business owners.

I have a totally separate LLC bank account for all REI expenses as well as a separate business CC and Lowe's CC.

I actually found out about this forum through Brandon Turner’s book, Investing in Real Estate with No (and Low) Money Down.

You can put as low as 3.5%-5% down payment and rent out the vacant units to offset your mortgage as we all call it Househack @Carlos Valencia @Albert Bui

You are in Los Angeles, whoever told you to lay low is giving you bad advice.

The investors all are going to turn it into something else - low income housing , student dorms, self storage, transient housing, drug treatment, etc.  

Thanks a lot for the replies @Chris Mason and @Gregory SchwartzOur lender said we can do a bridge loan but its around 11%.. id bring in 20% downpayment max, dont want to put too much personal assets into it and the issue is for yr1 w low rents and renovations its def a monthly -3-4k loss. def want an 8% or lower rateNot sure if lenders are ok with an initial cashflow loss, once its renovated we can have market rents and its a great deal after. it listed at 1.495M and we'd offer 1.2-1.25M. i understand the living in part doesnt necessarily bide well with investment focus, but for us thats a big appeal that its in a nice area to even live in