The biggest problems we have are with wholesalers misrepresenting what they are doing.

There are other creative financing techniques (partners, owner financing, wrap arounds, etc), however, items 1 & 2 seem to be the biggest impasses that I see young investors running into when they are starting their careers - the third is the down payment, which you have - well played. 

How much time you need to gain appreciation depends on the asset, the sub market, and most importantly the investor choosing and managing the asset, and in the most extreme example your lifespan.Risk in real estate investing comes from two sources. the 1st and biggest contributor is investor error.

The biggest piece of advice I can give from this experience is don't try to do everything yourself.

You can do an FHA loan with as little as 3.5% down but that has other downsides. 

1) Not investing - Not investing in this asset class is the ultimate, biggest mistake you will make with your finances.

Of all the people I've helped over the years the biggest question I've had for THEM is "Why didn't you get started?"

I have heard from several seminars, meet ups, mentors, etc. that one of the biggest mistakes new investors make is that they pay contractors money up front and end up getting ripped off (the contractor never does anything and just takes their money and runs).

The biggest difference is that you now have 75% of someones net worth and as a society we have decided it is a licensed activity....

You mentioned the area, and that seems to be my biggest concern for now- its crime rate is 52% higher than the national average, but it has 13% fewer police per-capita than the state average.