If I continue flipping, I will definitely work on assembling a team.  

I read the guide and I just have one nit-picky comment -- in Chapter 4, you mention assembling your team and in regards to choosing an accountant, you write:Your numbers guy should also be well aware of the ins and outs of real estate and preferably own rental properties of their own.

Hey Brandon, looks like you have assembled an esteemed panel of pros!

They called, some on the first or second mailing, some on the 10th and some took more than one phone call to get them to agree once they finally calledWe were assembling an old subdivision and then restructuring the lots to provide space for more modern homes.  

I recently assembled a bunch of scripts in this next link:http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/87/topics/61286-scripts-for-calling-on-sellers

You need to at least do mailers for 3 to 6 months to get a CONTROL for your numbers and returns.You need to understand if you are getting a bunch of calls from the mailer than the message is affective you are just getting there TOO LATE from what the sellers are telling you.You have to analyze how you can get in early than everyone else.I use to mail to pre-foreclosures.Most investors were lazy and bought these lists from companies that assembled the notices.Instead I pulled the info from the court like these companies did.This gave me 1 to 2 weeks head start before most of the competition.Then by the time the others piece came in the mail I already had the property listed for sale.I beat out the mortgage brokers to refinance,investors wanting to buy,wholesalers wanting to lock up,loan modification companies,attorneys wanting them to file bankruptcy,other brokers and agents trying to list the property etc.Getting there first and becoming the authority in your area for doing deals is critical to success.Out of the 900 mailers you need to assign a code to those so you can log how many calls are generated from that mailing and how much deals are closed to get your return on investment.For my real estate listings I have people call sometimes 6 months to 1 year after I have been mailing them once a month.The key is to have targeted marketing so that you continously close deals in between the new contacts so you remain solvent and profitable.

How much cash are you trying to assemble?

Some of the key elements to determining our stategy included: the type of property we wanted to buy, amount of time commitment we had to work on the investment, level of risk involved and amount of money we had at stake ie return on investment expectations compared to other options (risk vs reward), skill set including knowledge of market as well as comfort with the team we had assembled, and return seen in both scenarios. 

I am currently in San Francisco but planning to invest out of state (MFR buy/hold). My question is about which members of my team should be in-state vs out-of-state. Obviously, Property Management and Maintenance shou...

Of course, you could find a distressed property, assemble a team, fix it up and manage the renovations using contractors, and eventually lease it.