If you have experience or resources to share for navigating deals like this, I’d love to hear from you!"

There are certain things that require experience that DIYers just can't get right or spend way too much time trying to do.

What is your real estate experience (generally and specifically)?

More important than identifying target areas is establishing relationship with a local investor-friendly professional who has personal experience in investing in Cleveland.

No one is going to give you money when you have little no experience at all yet.

I feel like my "circle of people" really needs an expansion and improvement and I want someone with more experience in the field I want to be in to really help me gain myself to success!

I just want to hear from regular investors about their experience.   

From my experience, you can use that savings to house hack with an FHA loan, invest in a turnkey property in a more affordable market, or even partner with others to expand your purchasing power.

Quote from @John Williams: Has anyone been on the lender side of private money and had a bad experience that they are willing to share?

@Robert Gorra - I've had a similar experience where I've had a really hard time with getting GC's to even give me an estimate, and the few that have have been way overpriced (ie, they want me to put in $20k of cabinets in a budget flip) or have had their prices go up by about 40% and still not give me a firm price when I try to nail down the scope of work.