Spend a weekend building a Habitat for Humanity house, attend auctions (I hear Investors sometimes hang out at these), go to a closing.

Habitat for Humaity sells at a discount with conditions.

You can do a search for used appliance stores in the metro on google they usually have some decent ones or stop at the restore (Habitat for Humanity) - there is one in Urbandale and one off east Euclid.

I've already gotten rejected by 3 big companies (KW, citi habitats and ably realty) in manhattan because I could only work part time which was the huge deal breaker.

Check out Habitat for Humanity.

I did some volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity and they taught me how to do it.

The leads I hit today were all in a Habitat for Humanity neighborhood.

I've been doing Habitat For Humanity for a while now, and feel long-term involvement has been a great first step in learning how to rehab (It's also a good networking opportunity, some volunteers have decades of experience). 

The basic idea with MB is that when developers and government infrastructure projects etc. unavoidably must destroy natural "habitat," they must either restore it or else offset the damage by purchasing credits in certified mitigation banks to preserve multiple acres more of habitat than was taken out.

I noticed that Habitat for Humanity was building a ton of houses in the neighborhood.