There plenty of land to build in 90% of the country.

Found it through a current partner who invited me into the deal.

I'm biased towards DFW, but starting local doesn't mean you always have to invest locally, and there's plenty of opportunities to start in DFW especially in single family. 

If you grow your portfolio right there will be plenty of lenders seeking you out to establish a relationship. 

You’ll find plenty of friendly, knowledgeable people willing to respond to your posts.If you are looking to connect with other members near you, or want to learn from people in a specific area you’d like to invest in, or have a desire to find people interested in certain topics, you could use the search feature here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/search/usersAlerts can be really helpful too: http://www.biggerpockets.com/alerts

Low-risk financing would be debt that's immediately covered with in-place cash flows with a high margin, to leave plenty of room for when things go wrong. 

Had PLENTY of handimen do jobs on my personal homes and now rentals 

As he mentioned when discussing where to invites, "Just think about what life will be like with each tenant in your portfolio." is sound advice.

House hacking is the best and easiest way to get started and you'll find plenty of resources available to you here on BiggerPockets. 

Those are the big financial risks in early 1900s homes, and if they've been addressed, they can make for nice houses to add to your portfolio.A good, investor-friendly agent will know how to evaluate those homes and give you good buying advice.As for locations, the Midwest still has plenty of 3/2 houses that list under 200k, but they are getting tough to find in ideal neighborhoods.