I am a beginner still soaking up as much info before I pull the trigger on my first property.

That'll help you be sure you're striving for the right things, plus it'll plant the seeds for those relationships to grow so that when you do have deals, they're already in place!

Unfortunately the floating vinyl wood floor throughout the first floor warped immediately, along with a lot of baseboard and drywall damage from the water soaking into the walls.

I am new to real estate and looking to soak up as much information as possible before jumping into a property purchase. 

in the spring, we'll need to seed where they tore up the back yard driving through it after rain, and having built structures that killed the grass.  

As equity build through appreciation and tenant paydown (rent), it reduces the value of that equity...as in, "you're losing money".6 - Never SPEND your seed money, use it to infinity, but never, EVER spend it. 

I'd be happy to plant the seed for her. 

Obviously don't have to say it like that word for word but that's somewhat of the idea is to plant the seed of what I can do by wholesaling their house as apposed to just hoping it sells for what the realtor lists and possibly waiting months for any kind of offer.  

There is a wealth of information here to soak up.

Something you might want to look into before you get started 1) Soak up as much info as you can so that you know what you're doing.2) Pick a niche and try not to get distracted by various means of investing.3) Build your team before hand - insurance agent, local community banks, lawyer, realtor, property manager and handymen. 4) Run numbers on a LOT of properties just to get familiar with the process.5) Research on neighborhoods that work out for you.6) Network.