I have decent credit and have about $7,000 saved which I know is not much, but the house are dirt cheap where I’m at.

Our plan is to use the "Sneaky tactic" and for the next few years, the plan is to buy a house that needs a little TLC, fix it up as we live in it and move on to buy another house until were tired of doing it or reach a decent income.

@Russell Brazil is Patterson Park a decent rental area?

I currently have around 20k cash for a down payment and that is steadily increasing so I want to pull the trigger soon.I'm interested in Fort Wayne for a few reasons:- I have some family in the area (they won't be involved, but have some general knowledge of the area)- Decent schools- Low crime- Airport- Low pricesAny advice or connections are welcome as I am completely new to this.

One I close on that house, I plan to go buy a good lot and get a decent builder to build the next one. 

To overcome these, investors should focus on smaller properties, value-add opportunities, expand into secondary markets, leverage creative financing, partner for scale, monitor development trends, network aggressively, and use market data tools for tailored advice.

I also have someone I can partner up with on my side that has $140K W2 income and decent credit.

If it is not decent quality to begin with budget for replacing. 

This property has a ton of deferred maintenance but I'm purchasing it well below market value and I have a decent budget. 

Find a deal that will actually make money for a buyer and you'll build a decent list from the initial interest.