What about slow periods?  

You are really trying to jump into the deep end of the pool by starting out in notes as a newbie.

MLS tactics depend on the market, if you are in a soft or slow market, everyone is looking at the same deals.  

(Was this fast or slow for the work being done?)

Place needs gut reno so it has been painfully slow working through the pre-existing city violations, getting an architect and now trying to find contractors in my budget for the interior.

In the beginning, it may be slow just trying to learn and I will most likely ask too many questions.  

I am neck deep in a project now where roughly $100k was needed.

If your folks are slowing down they may want a more passive type of investment.  

@Joe SplitrockI laugh when people think the people that started buying when the market took a deep down turn, were lucky. 

However, to buy my first one I may need to drop 20% for the down payment if it's a SFR (since I couldn't use an FHA loan).Doing that will almost wipe out my current cash reserves, which means it will be a slow grind back to another 20k or so (probably 10-12 months).Conversely, I suppose I could try the fix and flip strategy to earn some cash at a faster rate, and then be able to buy more rentals at once, but I am more averse to this strategy because I lack the requisite knowledge/skills/tools for rehab and because it seems a bit more risky going into a potentially problematic property (obviously any property could be problematic but with a fix and flip you KNOW there are going to be problems).So I guess what I'm looking for are some thoughts as to the most intelligent way to utilize my current cash reserves (about 20 - 25k) in a way that doesn't immediately stunt my growth but also with respect to my risk tolerance and knowledge/skills (or lack thereof).