Usually that conversation starts with our real estate projects and I always mention how we make sure our private money lender is taken care of, and he is fat and happy at 10% return on his money and just wait for a response.  

Your living expenses is probably another $1500 conservatively w/ fat ($2500/mo needed total).

-Are there any market conditions with regards to saturation/absorption?

It really seems like West Richardson is getting saturated and I expect that at some point this will bleed over the highway to East Richardson and Berkner High School.  

Neil, why dont you try what i did and work with a company to do a marketing campaign for the areas you are looking to invest in. this can be a great way to get GOOD deals that your wouldnt get otherwise, down side to that is that many people are sending letters and post cards and what not, so if the area you are looking at is saturated with those already your response may not be as good. but if you pick a good area you will do great, my partner and i picked up 3 properties in 1 month. also if you are having a hard time finding deals, you can always find the people with the deals and help them finance it, you would make money and you would get to see how the process works a bit before you have to do it yourself. private money lending can be very profitable. and there are several ways to structure the deal to make it work for you and the person your lending it to. hope this gives you more ideas...

Trying to find a portfolio lender is one big, fat, hairy frog for me. 

The problem is that you are using a generic ad that has been done to death by every other wholesaler/investor out there.Those we buy houses ads are over saturated on craigslist to the point where it becomes hard to stand out from the crowd.You'll have to come up with something more catchy.

Mismanagement, not making repairs, the area changed, over saturation of newer apartment buildings with amenities, etc.When repositioning you have to know these things to determine what to do with a property.

The market has become saturated with apartments and thus leasing condos has loosened up recently.

I've always wanted to get into rehabbing, but I'm concerned that the market is very over-saturated with flippers.I have about $45k in cash and excellent credit, but I would likely need access to hard-money and some good wholesalers to make this work.