They are an excellent source of information.You can also find motivated sellers by starting a direct mail campaign targeting absentee owners with high equity.

Is this far from your work or income source? 

Disqualifying based on source of legal income = ILLEGAL ain't it?

Near all my money has had to come from private sources which are a very different can of worms from loans.

Based solely on what you stated, your "value play" would be to go into office based on you stating that it's "terrible".In my market (Inland Empire, So Cal), all asset classes are overvalued.  

The sole purpose is to identify and acquire 4+ bedroom properties to rent to college students and collect rent per room (research shows that rooms can rent anywhere from $400-$600 depending on size and condition of rooms/home). 

I will take your price, check with another source and youtube the job I want done.

I also recognize that a 5-year timeline is arbitrary/improbable but I guess my goal is to be at a point where I can walk away from the job and still have a source of income and an outlet for work as soon as possible!

We are currently focusing solely on fix and flips right now, but look forward to expanding into buy and holds.

You should secure your source of funding first.