That should not hinder any opputunties as there are plenty of local lenders who fund investors if the numbers make sense.As far the areas to invest it all depends and why you are trying to accomplish.

-Joe If needed, you can always pay debts down/off to qualify either right before writing offers, or even in escrow.What you cannot do, however, is un-pay-off a car loan to restore liquidity that in retrospect is needed.So purely from that perspective, I'd suggest waiting until you know what you're actually looking to buy and if the debts are hindering you.

Being a licensee MAY hinder you.

As Doug said, experience will help you get a loan and not having any experience is going to hinder any application you have.

So as long as the bank is counting your rental income for you then it shouldn't hinder you when buying a property as your primary home  FOR "DEBT TO INCOME" purposes. 

.- what happens if the appraisal isn't high enough to refi - are you alright with keeping the loan full recourse and that might hinder you from doing future deals- you mentioned that he's contributing the land.  

It's so easy to get caught up in the analysis that it hinders lots of potential investors from making any decision at all.  

I do not think making such statements benefits you at all, rather hinders your efforts to being accepted here as an expert.

Have you found South Carolina's property tax set rates and it's treatment of homes without a homestead exemption to be a hinderance to finding properties that cash flow?

After a couple of months, lots of dumb questions, and lots of handshaking I was able to close my first pure investment deal (A "subject to" acquisition which I sold as a wrap).I kept learning on here, kept reading the forums constantly, and kept researching everything I could online until I was to a point where it felt like my full time job was actually hindering investing progress.