My agent brought this deal to me and I jumped on it.

Quote from @Brian Rocha: I'm looking to secure a HML for a fix n flip in Florida and for now and am only looking to secure for the purchase price only and handle the rehab costs myself.

Effectively a 'Firestorm' is a dry hurricane that rains fire, with nearly indefensible circumstances, just like the catastrophic flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes and other disasters they have and will intensify in severity and rapidity.Beyond directly impacted property owners, investors, insurers and businesses, the downhill effects of the SoCal fires on the immediate and surrounding areas are astronomical and still somewhat incomprehensible.

I took a small private loan and bought my first home.

@Ezra Avery you might want to read below to understand Classes of Property/Tenants.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

If you do decide to work with them, you could set up a clear partnership where they’re equity partners and you handle the management and operations.

@Chris Seveney and @Stuart Udis and @Jay Hinrichs have posted excellent analysis.  

And how many classes are there? 

I hold a w-2 job currently and considering transitioning to holding some properties.

go to local meetups, they should have some here or try meetup app or eventbrite. continue to network and that can help you execute your plans.