Roughly how much of this would need to be set aside for repairs? 

You definitely don't want to set yourself up for a lawsuit (there are enough opportunities for that already).  

When you sell a rental property at some point in the future (at least a year out), this is not viewed as a flip transaction, but rather just a reallocation of the IRA from holding passive real estate to holding cash.Your example of buy, fix, rent for 3 months, then sell would likely be viewed as a flip, especially if you repeated this pattern with multiple properties.The IRS does not define a "flip" in clear terms, but has a full set of measures they would apply to real estate transactions to determine whether something is a passive investment or a trade or business activity similar to competing commercial enterprises.  

They were set on 50k and i walked.Jason

(newbie)...it supposed to be a active seller w/ plenty of equity...etc...lots of filters you set etc...cost $64.95/lead.  

Everyone has a different skill set, so be careful with any advice you get.  

I was dead set on purchasing a rental for my first property using the FHA 203k on a foreclosed home, but I am realizing now that personally, flipping a home would probably make more sense since I am not sure if I want to stay in upstate ny or move to a more tax friendly state.

Here are some good places to start: http://www.biggerpockets.com/meet- find and connect with other BP members that are in your area.http://www.biggerpockets.com/alerts - Set up keyword alerts to be notified of the topics that interest you.And, of course thehttp://www.biggerpockets.com/forums - ask any question about real estate!

I did get him an account set up and I did save him a lot of money to fix up his rental but what I really wanted was that connection.

I sent my first set of yellow letters the last week of July.