By meeting as many people as you can in the industry, you are given the opportunity to learn super valuable insight into starting out in real estate, as well as opportunities to collaborate.

I would suggest that you sell the home here and buy with as little down as you can in Texas. 

When creating these relationships, make sure that you have done your homework, that you know what you are talking about, and that you can in fact close on a piece of real estate.

For your entertainment, the first deal structure600,0005% down 30k, 2k for 36 mths=72k, balloon payment of 540,000 in year 372k=5% 30k towards 10% downpayment with the remaining 42K as financing fee to seller for holding the note for 3yrsyes I know it looks like a drawing with fat crayons by a 2 year old/unfortunately you don't know what you don't know!!

Get as much as you can in writing.  

By meeting as many people as you can in the industry, you are given the opportunity to learn super valuable insight into starting out in real estate, as well as opportunities to collaborate.

I would also suggest you could study real estate investing as much you can in a certain area you are interested in putting your own money, and ways to do investments, generally.

Yes we plan on trying to negotiate as much as we can in terms of having the seller covering closing costs.  

And while I recognize taking a cash flow hit right out of the gate is not a fun thought, a vacation rental should cash flow well enough that you're at least breaking even in a downturn, and have enough margin that the fat times get you through the slim times with no problem.  

Stay healthy, stay away from bad people.Some ideas to find the deals:walk/drive neighborhoods, look for neglected propertiesadvertise, newspapers, radio, pass out flyersWrite a nice letter to landlordsWhen housing court starts up again, meet landlords there - chatCall and visit owners of Expired Listings - make offersBuild a relationship with a few Realtors, offer to pay them a fee (3-5% of purchase price for unlisted buildings) for presenting your offers to FSBO's and expired listings (auto pilot investing) The purpose behind this is to open negotiations with sellers, I always offer well below their asking price BUT IN WRITING hand delivered by an agent (you save time, cost of gas and you increase the odds of finding a fat equity deal)Study Real Estate Control techniques; delayed settlement, assignment clauses, all types of options, hybrid or JV with sellers, repair consideration with possession (known as front porch offers) use one of the 21 proposals for seller financing (the best highest leverage financing you can get)My LOCK-DOWN has proven to be profitable, I have time to network and develop clients nationwide to mentor/partner transactions.