I started the process out of state and met with them in person to get the ball rolling.

. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Come to vegas and get a drink, i want to bust your balls face to face ;)

The reason I'm leaning towards doing it is I don't have other capital to get started, and this would give me enough to get the ball rolling!

I'm looking to start with Ranch Style Brick SFH (as boring and practical as possible) and purchase one per year for 5 years before transitioning into multi-family, can't wait to get the ball rolling!

I’m not going to low ball him since it’s a buddy...

Not sure about other states, but here in TX you can protest the tax value each year (with marginal success of late I might add).If you are negotiating directly with a seller, keep in mind that a lot of ill-informed sellers do erroneously associate their property value with this tax value...so that may give you an argument in support of your low-ball purchase offer (below market value anyhow).Andy

I've binged the podcast and read a solid stack of books, but I'm to the point where I just need to get the ball rolling!

That way, you won't drop the ball when a lead comes in. 

You should be able to get a ball park estimate on repairs by first finding out what you intend on repairing and then do some digging, Google "How much does it cost to fix ____ in whatever town you're looking in".

It's a way to eye-ball a property quickly to determine if you should investigate more or ignore it.I think you would be better off finding a REALTOR with experience in real estate investing.