I would focus on repairing your credit. see a specialist (faster) or open credit cards little by little and pay them off each month. im not saying increase your spending, just saying instead of buying that tank of gas in cash use a cc and immediately pay it off. while your credit is repairing, start banking cash. build a budget and stick to it. 80K a year is good money, make it a goal of yours to retain as much of it as possible i.e. don't eat out, don't go to the local pub, drive a modest paid off car etc. once your credit is up and savings is up, use the 80k a year plus savings to get leverage. then use that leverage to buy your properties. if your looking for a get rich quick scheme, id advise u skip over RE. don't get me wrong, you can make money fast by flipping homes but you didn't mention having experience in that area so I assume you don't. another option if your really in a hurry is to find a partner with experience and cash, and see if you can buy into one of his/hers deals. you would have to market yourself for this and see what type of skills they may need that you have. maybe you can buy in and use your web development skills to beef up and/or maintain your partners website saving them money on outsourcing. that might be your ticket into a partnership. since you mentioned your helping your friend, maybe you can partner with him?

There are so many pieces of the maintenance puzzle that can affect its efficiency.If you're not opposed to outsourcing, companies like mine offer lower cost alternatives to hiring a full-time employee and allow the cost of managing the maintenance to scale equivalently to your growth.

Then I received my 2nd appraisal on 11/28/17 and noticed that both my appraisals were done by same appraiser and notified my lender, (2 different companies out sourced to same appraiser).

They realize the value in outsourcing. 

Outsource the things you don't want to deal with to PM.

@Russell Gronsky I've hung drywall but always outsourced the mudding, lol. 

We've seen up to 30% missed out.As far as pricing goes several other qualified national firms specializing in cost seg, are able to keep the costs down, by streamlining the process, and not out-sourcing any of the work.Bottom line, like @David Thompson said above, any property worth at least $500,000 should do themselves a favor and get free estimate, which most qualified firms provide.

I’ll outsource property management at some point as my portfolio grows.

I'm going to outsource direct mail and start hitting many more targets now that I have the infrastructure set up.

If you can choose to outsource the tasks that you don't enjoy and then focus on what you love, You will enjoy Life more..........Happy InvestingDerek Dombeck