@Lauren MerendinoI strongly believe that your chosen market should be somewhere that you can go to in person / have strong personal knowledge of / have family or a network in already.  

This year, I’m determined to jumpstart my portfolio and would love to connect with wholesalers and lenders to collaborate on deals. 

It may take 1-2 years and by the end you will have forced some appreciation from the renovations but also got some natural appreciation from the market.

One of my wholesale lenders used to be willing to finance these, I can't remember the CLTV requirement of the top.

If you want to network or ask specific questions about your local market, go to your local real estate forum and connect with investors from your area: https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/86-local-real-estate-networking5.

They are specific to a specific market, actually micro-market. 

The guru your son is learning this technique from is likely not telling your son that the deal will almost certainly encourage your son to get an "off-market" deal from a "wholesaler" who is unlikely to properly disclose the details of the property or encourage an inspection. 

Wholesaler that I managed his airbnb.

It is just a farmer's market for real estate products. 

Through loopholes there are many home owners that are illegal immigrants, if they get deported , what will happen to their homes?