I said ALL of that to say, it's definitely personal preference, but he seemed happy that by and large he expended a minimal amount of his own money to pay off the homes he owned.

This will likely inhibit your cash position and slow down your ability to accumulate liquid capital as you will expend a large amount on a downpayment, pick up a mortgage, and incur maintenance expenses that go with every homeowner.

It's one thing to change your bathroom tile choice to save some money and, on the flip side, it's not easy to save money when you need a major issue fixed later on in the project and your budget is almost expended. 

We have a small amount of capital $8,000 expendable combined.  

Are you not expending some time and effort into locating those?

I have no problem giving away information (I spent about 500 hours on my website/blog last year giving away information, not to mention all the forums I contribute to, etc)...That said, I certainly understand those investors who don't necessarily want to expend the effort.

I am new here as well, I like you have a shipping career and work for expended periods as sea and then have equal time off at home. 

Once its under contract try the local chamber of commerce or motel association they may know of local business owner looking to expend.  

When these dogs don't get the required exercise they expend their extra energy elsewhere (carpets, doors, floors, baseboards, landscaping...)Oh yeah and if you have any sort of grass or landscaping just be prepared for it to look a lot different after a year or so, maybe less.

I'm just about to start Marketing in the US and expending the team with a Man on the ground, fellow investor from NZ who is moving to the US to keep the momentum going.