Occasionally a deal gets listed right away - around here that typically only happens if a residential realtor catches a tiger by the tail and has neither the experience or the contacts/clients to sell the property out of pocket.I also highly recommend Ken McElroy's book ABCs of Real Estate Investing.

I'm not at all sure the process would have been as smooth as it has been if I went with a regular bank that occasionally does VA loans.

It also includes maintenance (typically 10% of rent), property management (also about 10%), vacancy (you'll know better than me, but realize one moveout/unit/year and a month to get it re-rented is close to 10%), legal fees, advertising, occasional but large capital items like furnaces or roofs, evictions, repairs after a disgruntled tenant wrecks the place, and who know what oddball unexpected situation.

My parents and I call occasionally to see what they are trying and occasionally laugh out load at the rediculous offers.

I meet with investors occasionally to help them on their journey as well.

I would like to tackle the repairs myself (and occasional friends help) vs financing via 203k or homestyle.

If you use them occasionally they might not even charge you.  

But I personally haven't seen a huge bump in my travels.)Hope this helps - be sure to say Hi if you attend one of the RE meetings (I usually make it to RIREIG and occasionally to Black Diamond in southern Mass).

It is occasionally okay to make a negative cash flow for some individual properties in your portfolio but keep in mind that depending on your personal income, you may not be able to claim any losses on rentals. 

@Richard Lembo I basically work in Baltimore city with the occasional deal in the baltimore area outside the city limits.