Don't short-cut your education!  

I was able to track down the owner would not want the competition getting any easy shortcuts from me.

Generally this costs more than finding your own guys.The problem is there really is no short cut of getting 3-5 bids if you  really want to know what it costs without having those trusted people already on board.

Shortcuts cost!  

Cheap shortcuts are not sustainable, nor will they do much to help your credibility which is absolutely critical in this business.The first thing you should do, if you haven't done so already is to build a Twitter account, Facebook and LinkedIn page.  

There's no shortcuts.  

I do not want to short cut it in things I'm still not educated enough (wholesaling, partnering with someone on a multi-unit or flip).

Soap Box ONOver time, most activities (e.g. businesses, sports, personal relationships, etc.) where judgement is involved, develop 'rules of thumb', 'short cuts', 'approximations', etc. which allow you to make 'quicker' decisions at the expense of less certainty; they will be wrong some of the time.

Account Closed  LOL anyone who things there are work arounds and short cuts for FHA loans has been living under a rock and hopefully my comments will spark some interest to understand that what they propose is not really feasible unless you find that RMLO who wants to wear some stripped cloths.I know a few.. who went that route took the feeds 5 to 7 years but they are now incarcerated. never would listen to me.

Desperation or shortcuts will often lead to bad situations.