Hi, nothing wrong with using hard money on your first deal, although they will beat you up on points and rate since you are inexperienced, but you gotta start somewhere. 

As I've been doing research, it seems like the best strategic move for an inexperienced fund manager is to partner with Operators who are looking for capital for expansion and/or liquidity.

Like Cody said, putting in sweat equity can be a great way to go but the main thing I see inexperienced people doing is not accounting for the money they should be paying themselves.

A trend I'm seeing is more experienced investors complaining about inexperienced wholesalers (rightfully so as many of the errors are very avoidable).

I feel that there are some subconscious fears that are holding me back i.e. coming off as inexperienced, getting sued, and making mistakes that could be costly or just putting in a lot of effort that may be fruitless.

Many GC laugh at inexperienced investors that they do not even know what they are talking about and take advantage of their ignorance with additional charge($). 

Or you could choose an inexperienced sponsor that puts their money in first loss position (because they need to in order to attract investors because they don’t have the track record to attract them).  

In my inexperienced mind, this makes for a loan of 45-60k with 1600-3500 in upfront costs and approximately 700 a month in holding costs (mortgage, insurance, taxes, utilities).Am I still on the wrong track?

I was really young and inexperienced (and scared shitless) but that's what we were taught.

We're used to seeing addenda, we're used to the issues that come along with delayed closings and difficult sellers; but inexperienced buyers aren't used to these things, and they're not going to get much help from the listing agent who is representing the seller.I know I sound like a broken record on this, but if you plan to do a lot of RE transactions, get your license!