I am thinking that for the first deal, I would look for a property that only needs a cosmetic rehab to test that waters and reserve my time to finding the proper team and working through the learning curve rather than tackling a larger project.

I successfully signed two leases which provided valuable income to offset operational expenses while I tackled the renovation of the back unit.

Did you check your spam/trash folders, sometimes our messages may end up there? 

I've learned basically everything I know about house hacking from here and I feel beyond ready to tackle this once I have enough funds saved up. 

I would love to connect with you, hear more about your story, and help point you in the right direction when it comes to renting out one of your condos/tackling scaling your portfolio.

This way, you can make mistakes and learn from them without the pressure of a massive investment.Starting small also means you won't be overwhelmed with responsibilities.You can focus on understanding the local market, managing a single property, and getting a feel for the real estate process.As you gain confidence and expertise, you can gradually expand your portfolio and take on more significant projects.Remember, every successful real estate investor started somewhere, and many of them began with a small step.So, embrace the opportunity to learn and grow while keeping your initial investments manageable.Over time, you'll build the skills and knowledge needed to tackle more extensive real estate ventures confidently.Embarking on a property journey can be both exciting and rewarding.

Those are probably gone...it's a blocking and tackling market at the moment.

For finding deals, there's of course the traditional mailers, cold calls, email spam, and I suspect that these will always have to be included to some extent, but what are some more untraditional methods you guys have used (success or failure!)?

Some of my longest standing clients came from that exact situation - innocently hiring a "good deal" that spammed their email, but then drove their rankings into the ground. 

Maybe those are the more productive things to tackle.