The vast majority of contractors won't want to give bids on properties while under contract unless they have a relationship with that person from prior jobs.

The macroeconomics are on fire here - population growth, job growth, and companies moving and developing here.

The markets open up if you are not planning on doing the management yourself.There are many markets that are growing in population and jobs throughout the country if you are willing to look at OOS investing. 

I go through the applications and kind of number best to worse(job, salary, references) then if the favorite still wants the property, I run the reports and pay for it.

Then he is going to hire subcontractors to do the job and you are going to pay them for that work as well.  

I have a job that also affords me a lot of spare time in my schedule and I'm looking to use that time to begin/continue/grow a real estate portfolio.

Also, focus on 2 years of job/income stability.Class D Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, all cashflow with little, maybe even negative, relative rent & value appreciationVacancy Est: 20%+ should be used to cover nonpayment, evictions & damages.Tenant Pool: majority will have FICO scores under 560 (almost 30% probability of default), little to no good tradelines, lots of collections & chargeoffs, recent evictions.

I've driven by it a few years ago.Great job!

Also, how much time do you want to spend doing real estate vs. your main job or extra work in order to fund it.

You must work at least 750 hours per year in a qualified RE business.So most people who have high-earning W-2 jobs outside of real estate won't qualify.But the unique thing about RE pro status is that even if you don’t qualify but your spouse does, you can both file jointly and claim the losses from your RE investments to offset your other active income together.It's an incredibly powerful benefit if you do meet the criteria.