Any insights or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated!

I'll let others chime in on their experiences, but from a motivational perspective, I think attending live events and getting the "conference high" is something that only happens through in-person connections and being in the same room with investors who are eagerly pursuing their real estate/financial goals. 

While this job could be performed remotely, working with my peers in person for at least a year is important to me.

Here’s a breakdown of the main ways investors fund their first deal while minimizing their own cash outlay:1.Private Money & Hard Money Loans– These lenders focus more on the deal than on your personal finances.

It was a personal referral, received a credit at closing for renovations as well How did you finance this deal?

I recently read a book that mentioned there being a lot of power and benefits of a personal corporation but I'm curious as to when a corporation is actually beneficial over the latter. 

I have a salt water hot tub at my personal home.

But the risk to the seller on this deal is immense you have a guy tying up a property who has no ability to close it and then sell it to whoever will give him money and that person could be nefarious get into title rip rents could give 2 craps about the sellers credit etc etc..

Keep in mind that DSCR loans are how most investors have scaled. whether its residential DSCR or commercial DSCR at 5+ units. personally, i like them better. few reasons why:1. seasoning period is only like 10-30 days vs 60days going conventional2. seller max contributions DSCR is 3-6% where conventional its only 2% max3.

So, things change a bit.If it is his personal home, there are more restrictions.For an investment property, if you take over his financing, read through the deed of trust (mortgage) and see how they handle transfer of ownership.