Those are great goals and you should start by reading all the free material on this website.

Here is the text that maters in your situation DEFINITIONS OF WORKING RELATIONSHIPSFor purposes of this document, seller also means “landlord” (which includes sublandlord) and buyer also means “tenant” (which includes subtenant).Seller’s Agent: A seller’s agent (or listing agent) works solely on behalf of the seller to promote the interests of the seller with the utmost good faith, loyalty and fidelity.

A good sales persona might be able to sell something without extensive knowledge of the thing he's selling (although in the information age it's less likely), but we are talking about INVESTING, not selling or promoting.  

They want security that you have the down and enough to cover the holdings costs and what you'all need for deposits on materials like cabinets/counters/appliances until your bank draws kick in.

With the ability to sit back and watch your project materialize, general contractors are effectively your partner in business.

Bigger pockets is a great community with access to lots of educational material and a great place to net work and build relationships. be sure to check out the blogs at www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog and the weekly podcats.

Anybody know of any community buying groups for materials here in Utah?  

It took time to build this team but after many calls, many poor responses, many non call backs, many "we can't help you", I was able to find people that wanted to be a team and work with me.I have purchased $1000's in US real estate material, searched the internet for private money, invest time to increase my knowledge in US real estate, been on many webinars (still do) and continue to read and listen to real estate and motivational CDs.  

BP has so much great material, so you will definitely be able to educate yourself quickly.

I have been working on it since inception,...helping the developers connect to their target market through materials.