Personally I would not go above 70% and when your done building mode drop down to roughly 50%.

Your value is, to provide sellers that don't want to list, with a way to get cash for their house and provide buyers with discounted off-market properties they can buy to make a profit on.I am not saying it is not possible to wholesale from the MLS, but it seriously defeats the purpose.Focus on becoming the person/company that offers the most and best value and you will succeed.

It is what I personally do and I help clients do.

When that’s not enough they go after personal assets, if your rental is in your personal name it’s targeted.

Sometimes when placing an offer --  the POS is not yet available - and when you place an offer you can make your offer contingent upon approval of these items... although in order to have a competitive offer in this seller's market you are basically forced to "assume" the pos violations once they become available (usually 2-3 weeks after it's been ordered) -- you should be able to tell if anything more serious might come up on the POS via your own personal inspection. 

Who is the first person you call in that market to get started?

The fastest I've seen personally is a few days, with a reinsurance policy through Metro Title (they were on Glenwood Ave in Raleigh, but I think they moved.)

And personally, I stay away from OH because it's what herd think has long been and I worry how much of price is based on herd-actions or market metrics. 

Doesn't seem to be a lot of options around here for that though3) Continuing to rent where we live, and buy a separate property to rent outI personally feel like having my brother to help out as a renter is a huge advantage.

I'm happy to meet in person.