We don't have any gadgets or gizmos on any of our units and we rent to a lot of college-aged tenants - in fact, I'm not sure we have any tenants right now over the age of 30.

I am a beginner investor and I am looking to put a team together that includes a contractor and an agent, and I want to grow to become a flipper.

I only really focus on SFR at this time and I’m just trying to grow my portfolio but to respond to the OP an overall crash of everything in the real estate world just isn’t adding up to me and most other experienced investors at this time.

I do not agree with the comments that say the first property is meant to be a learning experience and that it doesn't need to make money.It may be a learning experience, but buying a poor deal hurts your ability to grow your business and might not give the new investor a good impression of real estate investing. 

I thought IRA funds had to remain in the account until you meet the age of retirement in most circumstances?

I never travel to a property unless I reach the due diligence phase and intend to close on a deal.Also start reaching out to out of state brokers on Loopnet.com to establish and grow relationships with them.

Rent rolls, expenses and find out the age of all mechanicals/roof etc for cap ex repairs needed immediately or down the road.

For example, my $50,000 after one year grows to $100,000 with no loans.

For example, my husband and I would never even consider the property you are looking at because that does not fit our criteria because of the age of the home.

Interestingly, there have been several BPO's done, with walk through and everything, and the highest, and most recent value came in at ~580K.The failed Short Sale was actually approved by the servicer for $480K.I suspect this has to do with the Non-Performing status of the mortgage, my mother's age, and Massachusetts being a tenant/occupant friendly state.I had to terminate the arrangement of this Short Sale when I finally acquired unbiased legal/realty counsel, and realized that the sizable return (700K - 475K = 225K) would not only be an act of fraud for us to receive, but that the buyer was likely misleading us into thinking we would get this money.Since then, I really started doing my research, and am very interested in pursuing Real Estate Investing thanks to all of the hard lessons I've learned.I organized an off market pool of cash investors, and showed the house and took offers.