I feel like I may have taken on more than I can handle with my first purchase and am seriously considering selling the property and starting over with a single family home or two until I can establish a better foundation for myself. 

., which I think will be a big challenge for new agents with no established client base. 

I'm willing to knock on doors and try to establish a good rapport, leave a good impression, etc, and do what I can to get the property under contract. 

I would think if you've gotten a deal under contract and you're fishing out a deal that you didn't use the contractor that the investor uses, then maybe you'd have to go back and negotiate (I guess that's why its important to have a well established relationship with the investor and how he works eh?)?

I'll bet that the halfway house was established after the duplex was purchased and financed.

Even if this is not ultimately the area where you buy, your search will help you establish your system for selecting an investment property.I'd like to start going to the Milwaukee REIA meetings but can't go this month.

You can establish a separate personal account and then move the $ over in the same institution when it's time to establish a business account. 

Also one new addition to the economy might be Amazon HQ2 establishment which would be huge for the area.

My why is to establish relationships with people early on and build a reputation should it be successful.

Strike three: do not have any established lender relationships.