My humble advice to anyone attempting to do creative finance is:Creative finance is for experienced investors who have access to capital if anything goes wrong.Learn the lawsDon't use a contract "off the internet", laws vary by state and are also regulated on a federal levelLearn the financing techniques correctlyDon’t skip parts of the processDon’t ever do a “kitchen table” closingUse the proper deedAn attorney can help you with the legal work, but the rest you are on your ownYour guru will not bail you out“Investing” in someone else’s deal by providing a small 2nd loan so the “investor” can pay for “cash to the seller” and for “closing costs” so he can do the deal is a very bad planKnow what problems can ariseLearn the responses and solutions to problems before they are neededKnow everything there is to know about Title and what that meansKnow who a "protected class" individual isLearn the "back doors"Learn human natureUnderstand timelinesUnderstand regulation enforcement (some of these "mistakes" have a 10 year statue of limitations ( they can charge you 10 years AFTER you do the transaction) and carry hefty fines and possible imprisonmentThe court doesn't accept "I didn't know" for an answer"Know that the source of the lead plays a serious role in some states and federallyKnow how much of a "profit" pushes the boundaries to invite an investigationYou can be sued by the seller if you don’t do things correctlyYou are automatically at fault if an investigator or attorney or regulator gets involved.

Wholesaling is risky, because there are a ton of bad players out there, and so most brokerages don't even allow it because there is so much risk, and the principle broker is risking their livelyhood. 

@Thomas FarrellRecommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

It's like Whack-A-Mole: don't think about bad things happening until they do, then panic and run to BiggerPockets forum for advice.

The quality of available tenant varies drastically depending on the neighborhood.

With these 3 theoretical deal analyses, hopefully ,I'll then be better equipped to jump into my first real deal. 

Not being on the ground makes it difficult to monitor progress and judge the quality of work.

Did have high quality photos/ great listing title and description?

And lets say you then rehab it only to find out there is bad title and you make a title claim.. if there is no loan on it your only going to get 50k from title insurance and you will lose the 50k you paid for the assignment and any money you put into rehab. 

I would say as an agent if a property is in a rough area I don't put signs since it can attract those bad apples or get stolen.