I am semi-retired, somewhat ambitious, and very motivated to learn all I can to flip distressed, probate, and tired landlord properties - and - hopefully find a few "notes" to sell - just for starters.

And that's where I've run into the problem: how do I get a reliable or semi-reliable estimate of the repairs needed?

I have a few clients that do well in the semi rural settings.IE Estacada  over to Molalla, inside PDX metro you will have uber stiff competition and if you don't have cash on the barrel head it can be tough 

I am looking for 4-5 other newbie to semi- noobs who have 5-8k to invest.

Once all the properties are paid off I plan to semi-retire and just use the cash flow as income.I'm not doing this as a hobby or trying to become rich or own hundreds of properties, just looking for a way out of my current career and an end game to get to retirement.  

These housing finance agencies are semi-governmental non-profits and thus exempt from a lot of the stuff that for profit private sector lenders can do.If your settlement paperwork has conflicting info, the most conservative of what you agreed to is likely what you are bound to.

(semi-connected to my home) 500.00/mth utilities paid.

I’m sort of semi-retired by design today.

If you're* going to fiddle with the numbers, please at least make it semi-believable!

@Gerald Barron Congrats on your semi-accidental success!