I'm competent and know how to evaluate if a deal is good or not but I don't have thousands of hours under my belt strictly focused on underwriting deals.

i guess even though I'm not experienced at all really I've done a lot of reading and have a local mentor with flips under their belts that probably helped my situation 

The bottom line is it is wise to develop as many tools as you can to have in your tool belt that will allow you the most flexibility when it comes to exit strategies.

Its one of the lessons many west coast investors learn the hard way.. when your buying in the mid west deep south rust belt its ALL about PM... at the price points these folks are buying at..What happens is you will not get any sales traction if you do not provide product that basically meets the 1% rule or a little better..

I was hoping to be able to get one deal under my belt using a realtor or wholesaler, then use the money from that deal to start a full marketing campaign.

These low down-payment owner occupant loans are very forgiving once you get to do your financial, physical and legal due diligence in order.I wanted to express my thanks for all the support provided by the various professionals I have been meeting in the real estate investor associations, meetups and casual one-offs, and of course, the BP community.Finally, for all the newcomers in the arena struggling to get your first deal under the belt, just be assured that with knowledge, patience, and positive entrepreneurship skills, be confident that you will ultimately do it.

We hope to get our second multifamily and 1 flip under our belt this year!

I personally didn't hit my goals last year as they related to my REI business, however, I feel like now that I have a year of investing under my belt, I have a better more realistic handle of what I might be able to  accomplish for the year to come. 

Our plan is to get one deal under our belt before we try and get other potential investors involved.

The latter have blowers & the dissipation of heat is amazing.When we had to upgrade our fire prevention systems (& add fire sprinkler heads) to meet new building codes, we were grandfathered in on some issues because we did not have forced air heat & vents that heat & smoke can travel through in case of fire.We have another property with a circa 2002 steam heat boiler system.