As soon as it became obvious that she knew more about flipping and the accompanying rules than the loan officer, that was the time to back out or at least get a commitment from the LO to triple check guidelines and get back to her before signing the contract.

Have the clear discussion, prior to making the commitment and make sure everything is documented clearly. 

If you come to verbal terms over the phone you have no legal commitment.

THANK YOU to the BP community for giving me the knowledge and courage to buy my first property out of state.After 2 months on the site, and plenty of webinars (Thank you @Brandon Turner)- especially the one when I committed to myself to buy within 90 days- today it happened.I took the plunge and bought my first property with the help of some amazing people on BP who provided great referrals.  

Kind of like gyms used to get you to commit to a contract.

Being on the HOA board seems like such a big commitment to so many people.

It will probably be helpful to have someone experienced around but again - would you commit to one person? 

You'll get there if you stay committed.

I have joined BiggerPockets to share my commitment and expertise with the BiggerPockets community by offering professional guidance and advice in areas including real estate deals and transactions, business development, and project management strategies to improve outcomes, budget management and customer solutions.As someone who has personally experienced, solved problems and developed projects in the areas of real estate development involving engineering, architecture, construction I welcome conversations in these areas as well as those below: Areas of interest include: pro forma development, technical due diligence, strategy and company growth; development, deals and transactions; portfolio development & management; leasing; construction, engineering and architecture in project design and technical operations.Real Estate, Construction and A/E, project manager, Real Estate Investor with more than twenty years of integrating business, engineering , architectural expertise and real estate development, construction management experience in designing, managing and investing in more than $126.5 million of commercial and multi-family properties and over $100 million in private and municipal projects encompassing design/build, structural, electrical, mechanical/civil engineering and architectural services, construction management, real estate investments, due diligence, pro forma development and financing.

As a side note, most metropolitan areas in Texas are currently a sellers' market which means that it is unlikely for you to find "off-market" properties and I would be wary of those offers and turn every stone before committing hard money into one of those.