Moving forward you should be vetting all the people you work with to make sure you don't have spend for what the ARV goal you're trying to hit.

One of the best strategies is using other people's money, like private lenders or seller financing.

Where can you find people that are at least a friend of a friend to reference first before trying strangers?

For plans that will pay off later, get into house hacking, save money for a first payment, meet people in local real estate groups and find a mentor, and put money into things that earn without much work like stock index funds or ETFs.

Mostly just people looking for handouts so they don't have to work.

Talk and connect with people who know about buying homes.

Welcome to BP - lots of great people on here that can likely help. 

I'm here to genuinely connect, meet new people, and help out.

I've seen many owners in Vegas get big fines for operating illegal STRs.I own 2 STRs in Big Bear CA which is about 4 hours away from Vegas - aside from buying something you can add value to, I'd absolutely recommend not getting into somewhere too remote that it's hard to find good people who can work on it.

I understand most people not really finding an interest in working with me, but closed mouths also don't get fed, right?