Remember self dealing and dealing with disqualified persons is the fastest way to pay penalties and taxes as @Brian Eastman explained. 

You do not need all deals to succeed so it is not about being the fastest in every situation.

That could be as simple as picking what sells the fastest.

Depreciation gets wiped out first and the fastest followed by interest on mortgages all based on the AGI.

As much as I hate to hear the word "could", I am not surprised that like everything important in life, the answer is complicated.As to why I want to partner - because it seems to be the fastest way to leverage hustle, knowledge, and money to build a reputation as someone to partner with on larger deals.

Ideally I would like to find a deal and bring that to a seasoned investor, the question is how to get the first deal and what is the fastest path to doing that (without paying 10's of thousands for the mentorship programs out there).

Maricopa is the fastest growing county in the country. 

It is currently one of the fastest growing areas in the West.)Thanks in advance to any and all opinions/insight

I’m orginally from Martinsburg,WV it’s is the most populated and fastest growing place in WV.

That places Austin as the 4th fastest growing metropolitan area in the United States by raw population gain.