However, I'm leveraged a lot and either my personal home would be at risk and/or my rental homes due to the home equity loan that would cover my down payment. 

You can allocate your cash proceeds however you want into the two new properties so you could purchase one for minimal cash/maximum leverage and purchase the other one for cash. 

Ladies and gents,I am currently grinding out the required hours of education with the somewhat overly optimistic goal of being at least ready to test by the end of my college semester so I can dedicate all of my time to being an agent.

The idea is that you should be able to grow/leverage the cash you are taking and grow it faster than the interest you are going to pay on the new debt. 

3 Reasons Note Investors succeed:1) They invest in their education and training on an ONGOING basis2) They do massive outreach to peers and sellers on an ONGOING basis3) They put systems in place so they buy right and create the desired cashflow from their buysCan anyone contribute to this list?

If having your lot can allow them to build a significantly bigger building then you might have more leverage. 

Continue networking, educating yourself and searching for deals.

Be mindful of your leverage and have an exit plan. 

Being well educated on finances as well as real estate investing itself is essential to success.It is no different in many respects from buying a car.

But being long-distance investors (first time, no less) we are trying to leverage technology; I was hoping you all could help us build our team in order to enable us to reach our goals.Goals: We are looking to complete two flips within the next 12 months, and eventually grow that to four flips a year.