I am an appraiser here in BC but I have found that the AMCs have made it virtually impossible to succeed financially in the field which means it cannot be a full time commitment, namely in BC where I currently live.

You want an accountant who can help you strategize and who is responsive when you want to know the consequences of the financial decisions you are making throughout the year.There are over 20 real estate accountants on this site.

Noted on the units too, ideally a nice 4plex would be the best case scenario but as you mentioned anything is better from a financial perspective than paying the amount in rent I am currently.This market could cash flow pretty well at 20% down if i find the right property as the prices are below national average and rents are actually fairly good in comparison to property prices (plenty of 1% opportunites on SFH with a minimal cosmetic TLC). 

Carefully financially model this, so you make a profit.5.  

The goal is to move into adding the financial side of Development to do my own projects since I am already accustomed to a lot of the other tasks necessary.  

If you’re young, no financial backing, no support, join the military.  

My wife and I have 16 rental units in Kentucky and although we have an on the ground handyman we mange financial things remotely.  

The key to having great financial systems is the setup and systems: If you get everything structured properly up front, you avoid most of the ugly problems many RE investors face later on.I'm not an accountant nor a bookkeeper, but I have great recommendations for both!

Funny how opposing viewpoints are financially driven :)Im a real estate agent who self-manages, so naturally I'd say find a great agent.

But the best ways to get started are, in my opinion: 1) save up enough for a 10-20% down payment and then save a lot more on top of that for reserves, overages, and any unforeseen repairs.    2) have your financial house in order and have credit above 700 to get more favorable rate and terms from lenders.   3) speak to a loan officer that is experienced with fix and flips and get the necessary documents together for a pre approval (typically not much required, usually a valid ID, LLC docs if any, and two months of bank statements showing funds for down payment and reserves).