I am have a great deal of interest and fascination in investing into real estate, and I am hoping to pull a trigger on my first very soon.

You need to be a trigger puller.

There could be ways around that so be sure to speak with your tax advisor (or have your investors speak with their tax advisors) before pulling the trigger.

I started an LLC and planned to transfer the title to the LLC (and even got written permission from my mortgage company)....only later to find out that transferring the title in PA and Philadelphia would trigger a 4% transfer tax (which I cannot afford to pay).

Congrats on pulling the trigger and taking action! 

I came close to purchasing some properties a few times, but never pulled the trigger because I was too busy with other obligations....like law school.

i assume you cannot enter these properties to access the damages/repairs, and even if you could, you may may have to pull the trigger immediately if deal is good...Do you just consider recent comps for main criteria?

The leading real state books and educators teach the following basic approaches to buy real estate creatively.Some good and some not so good.Later I'll discuss the pros and cons of the best creative financing methods so you can determine which to use for your particular situationLand ContractsOptions, Leases, Options to purchaseAITD's (All inclusive trust deeds or wraps)Seller carry back deeds of trusts/mortgagesTaking subject to the existing financingNot recording the deed, which is dangerous if not properly protectedRecording a memorandum of agreement Trusts:Transfer the property to the sellers trust, get the bank to approve the transfer and then have the beneficiary of the sellers trust changed to the buyer.Just transferring title into the buyers name hoping the lender won't call the loan.Equity shareAny of these will trigger the due on sale clause and as a buyer or seller if you haven't put safeguards in place, you are unprotected against claims against the title from showing up and or the lender calling the loan due.Are you prepared to take the chance that the seller may further encumber the property or resell to someone else?

With that said well done pulling the trigger to take action on this deal.The advice I have for you is based on me selling mobile homes to end-users for payments, cash, and bank financing.

In the event you move out before it's ok to do so, you would essentially be committing occupancy fraud, and if im not mistaken, it can trigger an acceleration on your loan."