Local Real Estate Investor Associations (REIA's) also are a great place to network and find a mentor or someone to walk you through getting started.

Refinancing isn’t an option yet because of the way we purchased it (unless someone has a bank that will look at the deal differently) our original plan was to pay off our balloon in early 2027 when it is due which the bank will treat as a purchase and then we would wait until we are able to refinance so probably 2028 and then we could pull out a good chunk of equity at that time.

I always am amazed when someone selling a $600,000 house brings me a listing agreement where they agreed to pay a stranger $30,000 to list their house for sale and they didn't even read the agreement much less spend the $250 to have a lawyer tell them that yes, if they sell it to their cousin during the listing period they still have to pay the $30k.

Here are a few high level thoughts for you as a beginner:-Don't lend in second position-Don't do deals with new investors-Don't experiment with new strategies, even with experiences investors- ie, don't jump in to a first development project with someone just because they've flipped 20 houses. 

Quote from @Jairo Montezuma: Agreed with the above, your problem will come when you need to get someone out there on a Saturday morning around 6 am and you are three thousand miles away on vacation.

A lot of agents don't want to have to educate someone who is broke and has dreams of financial freedom through real estate just to find out you can't buy.

  $1 of debt in year one, will only be worth say $.10 in year 20; someone can do the actual amort table. 

Look, we’d all like to search the internet, find a deal for sale, analyze the property as having a great cash flow at current interest rates, with lots of upside potential in a gentrifying market.  

Heck, my company added Equity Lines when I walked into three bank branches for an Equity Line for a pool and I couldn't find someone that knew how to take the application.

Yes, you may have to pay some money out of pocket over the year, but someone else has invested exponentially more over that same year.