If you and the property qualify, and if you can wait as the lenders micro examine every minute and seemingly irrelevant piece of information asking for explanations of anything and everything in your life, then conventional loans will be a lower cost factor in your investment than private loans.

Yet another issue I need to examine closer and I think can be block by block.

I am scheduled to take the National and State exam in June.

Since you say you are new you should consider utilizing the services of a contractor or home inspector to examine the home with you.

I am  actually in the process of studying for my licensing exam in the state of Texas currently.Thanks you all for your input & it is great to be a part of this community.

I just finished the pre-licensing course for my brokerage exam and I plan to leverage the MLS quite a bit after I complete the state exam in a few weeks.

If so, can you offer any insight as to the dynamics we should be examining or including in our process?

I would recommend finding a contractor, and a exterminator and have them examine the property, get HARD quotes for repairs and deduct it from your offer. 

That's what I'm told however, "affordable" has to be examined through the lens of variables too numerous to list in their entirety.

Check out the following site: https://www.nachi.org/allicensing.htmI'm not an inspector by any means, but seems like from the application - http://bc.alabama.gov/HI%20Menu.htm - you could get your builders certificate (category C) in lieu of taking the examination that would provide an additional source for cash savings if you could be your own contractor.