I am looking for advice or any tips on the whole process and any assistance/advice would be appreciated! 

@Chad Justice,Welcome Chad.You have indeed came to the right place to network,learn, and advance your REI career.When I started many moons ago I too knew some things about construction, trades, remodeling,ect.What I soon found out was that was just the tip of the iceberg.Done correctly REI is about a lot of moving parts.Finance,Law,Marketing,Research,Evaluation are just some of the things you need to educate yourself on toward the strategy you are interested in.

Thank you for the tips.

Luckily, I work at night to make cash tips as a server, so I can afford most of my monthly bills within one week of work.  

@Alex Craig, thanks for the tip on Little Rock.

@Brendan Griffin Staging was done by my landscapers wife.

.- I would like to position myself so that I could be able to work on similar deals with my business partner in the future.Any advice, including tips on finding a qualified CPA/Attorney to work with and working with someone out-of-state, would be much appreciated.

Thank you for that tip!

Also, I'd be interested in hearing tips/advice for working with contractors. 

Peter, Good tip on the lawyer, I'll give mine a shout.