Would have bought a  400 K SFH house  which can do STR and if not would be good to do MTR or LTR if the STR approach failsThis would have made my feet wet, got me money and I would have learnt the following1.How to get lenders for loans3.How to create LLC and use umbrella policy4.Build a  network of lenders, PM, contractors and cleaners5.Learn how to transition to MTR or LTR if neededThat would have been my approach to get a  quick start else I would have wasted months  on figuring out what to do:)

You can see that the concrete is wet all around the crack, not just running out of it.

You can find videos/articles online on how to get the basement dry, but the basic process is: 1) turn off all electric to the basement (to avoid electrocution from the water), 2) run pumps to get the standing water out of the basement (sounds like you're already doing this)3) remove all furniture and items from the basement,4) once you've pumped out the standing water from the basement, rent a wet/dry carpet cleaner/extractor from home depot, and use it to extract as much water as possible from the carpets (they'll be much lighter and easier to move once you get the water out). 5) After you've used the carpet extractor to get most of the water out of the carpet, remove all carpet and get it out of the house for drying (if you're trying to salvage the carpets), or throw the carpet out.

Even if you don't have an agent, you can go to Open Houses when they have them on more investor properties and get your feet wet off the computer and in the real world.

Get our feet wet and gain some experience in this space and, in 6 months to one year, either purchase another SFH with a mortgage or go for an all-cash purchase and start BRRRRing.

This material has 0 tolerance for humidity of any type, and will explode like a sponge if it gets wet a couple times.I have seen situations where homes are closed up all summer due to foreclosure and large portions of the floor start to swell and buckle just from excess humidity and no A/C.

I'm new to real estate investing and trying to learn how to get my feet wet and get into this field.I feel like from everything I read, I am not quite in the position to be as flexible with securing my first investment property (ie, married with some children, not wanting/interested in moving, etc).Would like to hear how people did come up with the savings/money down to use to purchase your first investment property. 

@Steven Westlake agreed, I did the wet scrape then a knockdown texture.

Alabama, Utah)  Hopefully this is a strategy to get my feet wet with relatively small capital investment. 3.

My goal is to start with wholesale and get my feet wet there.