I really value your sentiments and obviously look to both you and Justin as mentors. 

One of my earliest mentors taught me, "Until you know value, everything is worthless."

I would also like to meet some people around the Colorado Springs area that share the same interests and possibly some mentors.

That's great, how do you intend to go about that; get a real estate license and work as an agent, take real estate investor courses from motel gurus, find a mentor that you trust and respect to guide you and show you the ways of controlling flipping and building a real estate portfolio? 

Hello BP,My name is Ryan and I'm currently a Junior in college.

To get you going you need to align yourself with the right friends and mentors to get you jump started.Franklin

I had a mentor that taught me the land business so I have never bought buildings like you want to do.

And as you already are seek out mentors and advisors who will help educate and build you up.

TL;DRMy first investment property (single-family spec home), used hard money, father-in-law (FIL) was my mentor (he also did some minor work with me, he’s a general contractor), net profit approximately $27k, total time from breaking ground to closing was 8 months.BackgroundI’ve been interested in real estate for a few years, but haven’t had the time or money to get started until recently.

And the lender may be a junior lien.