I deal with these all the time, so when you're ready to acquire give me a shout and I'll turn you on to the latest opportunities.  

Ideally, I would like to get into real estate investing (buying/renting multifamily, flipping).

I'm advocating to invest only in areas that are not "renter areas".Ideally, you're looking for SFRs or MFs in areas that are surrounded by well maintained single family housing with owners living in them. 

Thanks for your responses, ideally, i would like to obtain a normal FHA loan and do some of the work myself.

(The location is ideal.

Ideally if we can fix the problem we'd like get the most out of the bathroom without renovating it.  

I guess in an ideal situation I would at least like the property to break even with costs, but from what you're saying that's quite difficult.

yeah i agree with stephen l, you don't need a lawyer to file for LLC here in the red stick, i had to send $100 filing fee to have paperwork registered with sec of state web address to file online is sos.la.gov just type it just like that, i also had my bank file for my EIN when i applied for a line of credit application just have to talk to your local bank that you deal with real nice and they will work with you, the 1 i deal with is capital 1!

If your debt/income ratios aren't right for the bank your only choice becomes a sale to gain that access which may not be ideal in that market cycle.

I would ideally like to work with investors and distressed properties.