Meanwhile, I am educating myself on REI and analyzing deals for the next year.I am looking to find a mentor who has carved a path in multi-family & commercial real estate to help build my confidence and investing skills.I am also open to finding partners in the area to go in on deals with.

You should consider partnering with local experts, networking and mentoring, diversifying and scaling, and leveraging technology.Good luck!

Even if they do not partner with you, they can probably mentor you and show you what they do!

The broker exemption includes loans secured by real property in the form of promissory notes secured by deeds of trust.The only limits on the fees or points that can be charged on a broker exempt loan are if the first deed loan is less than $20,000, or a junior loan is less than $10,000.

I do plan on investing by next year 2025, but I do want to increase my knowledge a little bit more and possibly find a mentor and work with one just to get my feet through the door, and start investing by next year. 

Take a little return (or work for free) while you get mentored and catapult yourself into the game. 

I didn't have a mentor, didn't read books, didn't attend a seminar or classes, didn't even post much about it or asked questions online the first 10+ years.

If the HOA lien is junior to the mortgage lien, it will extinguish at the sale.

@Ryan BiankowskiIn my opinion, if you have no experience flipping houses, no experience dealing with contractors and this is your first deal, $10K is nothing.Sorry to burst your bubble.An unscrupulous contractor will burn through your $10K in one day..... literally and you may never see him again.Assuming you have no experience, I would advise you as a starting point to slow down, sit yourself down, and buy J Scott's books for $49.00........and save yourself $9,951.00.Make sure you read them through thoroughly at least once, if not twice before making your first move.There are other good books out there, maybe a good local mentor that you can learn the ropes from and even some good "guru's" that you can learn from despite all the guru bashing on BP but I would definitely start with J's books.Said books are:The Book on Flipping HousesThe Book on Estimating Rehab Costs

A mentor can help guide you and keep you on track.