Im also seeking a mentor for my 1st 1 or 2 deals and go from there.

In fact, as a flipper or rental owner, I would not seek to invest in A neighborhoods.

I think I'm going to formulate some questions for my potential partner, seek an attorney to advise an review documents, and seek people within my personal network who may be able to be my eyes on the ground. 

You should seek legal advice and go from there.

Im looking for a referral to an agent in the Wilmington NC area.  Remember per forum rules you can not recommend yourself, so if you are an agent send me a private message and dont reply to the thread.

I would seek out @Joe Villeneuve or @Jay Hinrichs and try to become junior partners with them, or at least get their coffee :)

Seeking advice on how to find a reputable realtor and mentor to guide us.

What type of home loan/financing options should I seek?

consider...tim ferris books, esp tools of titans...has a section about 'build your own education' where you purposely seek out opportunities investing similar $ and time as the mba program, yet tailored to your needsalso, check out the free resources in your town, like SCORE...retired business people giving advice, mentoring, etc and find someone who is doing what you would like to do and consider ways to learn from themenJOY the freedom of self education and build your own portfolio/degree!!

I'm trying to decide that now and seeking feedback from people like you.