On top of that - you're simply creating a new job for yourself when it comes to rehabbing, managing, generating leads, analyzing deals, making offers etc - so now you have to scale and outsource responsibility.

Sadly there is so little inventory that many are simply trying to last as long as possible and wait for the constable to tell them that the moving trucks are here for them. 

Same guy handled a triplex rehab (the one with the theft), and that's where he took money that he simply pocketed or used in some sort of Ponzo scheme to pay off other debts (I have no way to know, but the money did not go to contractors or to continue work at the site).

What's being pitched as wholesaling is simply illegal real estate brokering.

i used FHA for the first property so it may take me much longer to have enough money to buy the second since it wont be FHA but I don't want to wait several years. are there any other strategies to buy properties quicker or do I Simply just have to wait until I have enough cash?

Put simply...I've seen turnkey sales that were done terribly in terms of rehab, weren't in great locations, and had tenants that were paying over market rent (to make the numbers look good). 

That is a full-time business in itself so we simply pay to skip the line there. 4.)

. - patience is the key in this market right now, as many of the deals we've reviewed simply don't work. 

There were 100% some rough years early on, to be certain, simply because it's hard to perfectly time the catching of a falling knife, but those that weathered the storm are sitting quite pretty today.

The walk through with a contractor for an on market property is simply to get a sense of their costs without any urgency.