@Patrick BrittonSounds like you actually want to be a gambler and not an investor, maybe your money would be better spent at the racetrack or at the blackjack table.

Cash-on-Cash return gets horribly skewed when you're coming to the table with so little money, anyways.Smaller properties operate on thinner margins so you probably won't make much more than $200-300/unit (after accounting for all expenses (and I mean all!)).

@Brent ZandeEach situation is unique.

Not sure what you bring to the table that he can't get elsewhere far easier. 

I would highly recommend everyone check their local procedures and consider offering this service to your tenants.If anyone in Toledo needs labor for spring cleaning or a  trash out help throw me a PM, happy to assist.I'd love to know if other municipalities have unlimited trash pickup...I can't believe that Toledo has  some unique perk. :)

I'm sure there is much needed info I'm not providing y'all but this is an exciting analysis and a unique environment so I figured a lot of people could learn from this post.

One of the most valuable and unique benefits of MyGaREIA is they have both a face to face deal makers group meeting Wed at 10am at the office for full timers, and a google group where contractors are exchanged, deals, and countless solutions and problems to avoid talked about.  

In that case you need to ask what it is that you bring to the table?

Does anyone have any unique skills they can share with me that can lead me to my first deal? 

Banks are not going to lend without an appraisal, and appraisers have no reason to risk their license/reputation by giving a true opinion of value that might contradict a contract price.If they are given the answer before they start, all they need to do is determine if the contract price is within a reasonable buffer of their opinion of value and if so, then the contract price becomes the appraised value.Think about it this way, what if you had a contract for $250K and an appraiser came in at $248,500 - you would now have to bring an extra $1500 to the table or see if you could sweet talk the seller down $1500 (or maybe split the difference).