Without team "flow" and urgency, it is human nature for workers to milk the clock.

I suggest you stay away from anything asking for a considerable amount of money, if it's a considerable amount to you, it's probably too much.The pyramid schemes are alive and well in the real estate and note investor pools, the profits usually come from the other investors after skimming off the top.As to education, usually the value is grossly over stated and the real quality of an education has more to do with who  presents information than the information, in other words, if it's some nit wit trying to explain the hottest strategy they probably aren't aware of the pitfalls related to what they are saying.

I just skimmed your post, but it seems like you're asking for options to get started now, while bank/regular lenders want to wait until you have 24 months on the job (which is common by the way).Since you're so close, at 18 months, I'd say you should line up private/hard money just in case you come across any great deals, then when you qualify for bank financing you can refinance out the private/hard money loan with conventional financing.I frequently do this with properties, using private $ to buy a good deal quickly, then 6-12 months down the road (after I stabilize the property and give a good return to my lenders) I'll refinance with a regular bank loan.

Welcome to the land of milk and honey @Jenny Yean.  

I milk the cow.

It has great bones with prioritized fund clauses and other pro-landlord terms to help you in an eviction.I also suggest that you skim the CA fair housing info that you should be able to find on your county's court website.Lastly, I really like some clauses on Landlordology.com just search the site for lease clauses.Hope that helps.

You are skimming rent for the period between acquisition and foreclosure.

I really enjoyed the book and I read it cover to cover (except for skimming the veterans section as it does not apply to me).If you are a total beginner living in an expensive area, it is important to know all of the levers you can pull to secure your first property.

We bought our first 100+ year old house as newlyweds (read: naive children) in 1998 and have lived in and renovated several since, selling for a decent profit each time and learning how to do things like remove milk paint, do plumbing and wiring, and jack up a porch to replace failing beams.

but we had to pay cash to get the huge discount.. but we did get our local bank to fund it with no money out of our pocket.. but most of the folks here on BP starting out probably cant get 2 mil signature loans like we did.anyway would be curious to have you expound on your model if you care too.I did a ton of sub to and foreclosure rescue in my day before the anti equity skimming laws were passed on the west coast