We have had success with the debt-reduction aspect of Dave Ramsey; we personally have gotten "gazelle intense" in paying off debt, and saving up everything...bonuses, tax returns, birthday presents, bought older cars, etc. in a quest for down payment funds. 

Some of the renovations might qualify for bonus depreciation thus increasing your losses.You can have a main LLC who manages the properties to take advantage of the strategies but you might not need to do that this year since you are having losses anyways, something to consider for January 2019 and you want to consult with an attorney for the legal aspect of it.

Define your goals,Then once you have your goals set then start reading books to get the fundamentals down. 

It really goes into detail about every aspect of building a house. 

In many cases, the pool has been a defining factor in rentability and salability.  

Also open to any local investor that are interested in helping out a newbie on his path to real estate investing success in this market I’m willing to help out on others deals to learn, partnerships maybe that I do some minimum aspects to take some task off an investors plate so I can learn more hands on and grow.

That skilled is used in every aspect of real estate investing ... if you plan on scaling ... 50 properties or more.

I have a friend looking for an attorney to help with the legal aspects of raising investment funds for the acquisition of a building for a gym in the DFW area.

However it is very difficult and there are so many aspects to that.

Define your assignment fee which usually takes place at closing .