@Kimberly McCall  Couple of points - looking at just the raw numbers, I personally don't think it's a great deal. 

Haha I love the raw honesty of the what your life was like at the time.

= wisdom, and wisdom is far more important to business success than raw intelligence.

In my area, new construction homes are very expensive and out of reach of most first time investors, secondly, the market is on the verge of turning in many areas and the house might lose value before its even finished being built, raw land often has to be bought with cash only, and construction loans are very expensive. 

Luckily cars mean absolutely nothing to us and we are still in our "Starter home" that we bought 17 years ago and have now paid off.Hit the retirement accounts hard and save elsewhere too...your time will come to relax and enjoy those fruits you've been cultivating. 

It is ALL a learning experience, and if you learn and experience sooner rather than later, then your on your way to running a fruitful business.

@Chen Tong, @Brian Sher, and @Anjoli Elizabeth Rowe, the MLS still have deals, but as @John Barrett mentioned above, they need some work and they are not so low hanging fruits like other markets. 

Delinquent taxes are also saturated however I've found it to be fruitful in my farm.

I like mom and pop deals however the motivation of a trust LLC  or Corp when theyre miles away tends to produce good fruit. 

. - I can give you raw numbers on how many pieces in the mail it takes to get a deal.