I read that many MLS systems need to be run on IE so I downloaded the free trial of Crossover and IE 8, and yet, now, MLS wont even let me log in.

Then go buy low enough and it won;t be hard for you to make friends.

If a roomer's pet is destructive you can talk to them about it immediately instead of after 6 months of destroying your trim, for example.

If you are currently unemployed you most likely wont get approved either.  

I know for sure that David Lichtenstein (http://www.crunchbase.com/person/david-lichtenstein) is gonna destroy the LA market if he comes there

So in the end, are you willing and capable of putting a larger down payment into the deal, if not, then you can use FHA 203K or Homestyle Renovation, but you wont be able to do the work yourself.

Most states have strict regulations on consumer finance and hard money lenders wont lend to individuals for this reason.

With your numbers, you're all in for about $277k (mortgage + down payment), if it appraises for $300k after renovations are complete, they will only be able to cover the original mortgage at $225k (75% appraised value) which means you wont be able to pull out any of your down payment.

I would no way recommend anyone do that.better to be in a fund or buy a whole note.. and I base this off of a ton of experience .when I had my HML company in the bay area late 80s that's all we did was JV notes or fractionalize .. we had to the loans even back then were 250 to 1 mil  .. so hard to find one investor with that much dough.but in a foreclosure scenario it can get unwieldy with a hold out or someone does not agree on the exit plan or wont put up anymore money to save it.. etc etc.. a lot of things we don't think about when every thing is rosy.

Without the W2 income, you wont get qualified.