It's so hard when starting out to navigate through foreclosure auctions, wholesalers, and other non traditional means but the mls is a tough place to find deals at the moment.  

My Cash Flow and income source eyes were open with Rich Dad Poor Dad in 2007.  

@Rich Ferradino Thanks, man.

I'm not looking to get rich, but I am looking to get out of the rat race of check to check living.

My general long-term goal is financial freedom, so that I can spend more time with family and enjoy living while I can.Some books I've read that have gotten me started on this journey: Rich Dad Poor Dad, The 4-Hour Work Week, Building Wealth One House at a Time, and The Book on Rental Property Investing (which is what brought me to BiggerPockets!)

Luckily I have been married to a woman that has been saving money for about 25 years and I have a good friend that is rich (but not in real estate) and has been helping me for five years.  

search self directed ,Non Traditional companies.

. :)The Seattle area has been white-hot as far as rising home prices go, great news for the savvy flipper or talented wholesaler, not so great news if you're into traditional buy-hold investing as home prices have far outstripped the ability of rents to keep up.If you're looking for an informal meet-up to attend, @Troy Fisher and @Tiffany Plovie run a great series of get togethers in Kirkland/Seattle while their colleague @Kevin Carbon is passing the torch down in Tacoma-Lakewood.Cheers and good luck!

With a decent (above 640) credit score and verifiable income to make the payments, you may get in with just paying (ALL) closing costs.Based on current lending guidelines, your exit strategy could be an immediate, no-seasoning Hard Money refi or a traditional bank refinance with 6 months title seasoning.

I ask because traditional banks and credit unions are very strict about that.As to what I am offering investors...