I have done one in Ocala.

Learning how to responsibly use debt is one of the best tools any real estate investor has at their disposal.

Going to try out PayRange, the Shine Pay is slightly more expensive and the one quote about the 20 units appears to be from shinepay as it is the only qoute they ever made... not sure which is better but both look like good options

Worst case you have zero money and you pay interest for one month on $330 for an “expensive” repair. 

There are a lot of things that can come up on a flip so easing your way into things and working your way up to larger rehab budgets, etc is recommend.

only one avenue to this and that is an equity partner that shares your dream. 

I would recommend you begin researching Chicago based meetups as there are a bunch of really good ones.

They put one of their employees into one of my houses, and after I switched to a new property manager, that tenant stopped paying rent (amazing!)  

In the first you have one tenant, 2500/mo revenue and higher costs.

Or one that can be easily adapted?