I need to start slow, work on getting my first deal done, and I'm not afraid of work.

They can be slow, even take months to approve your renter.  

Originally posted by @Scott Weaner:My lender even looks at retirement accounts as a reserve.Retirement accounts can be used as long as you can prove that they have some accessibility in the case of a need for early withdrawal.

If I can get the landlord to drop to 7% I can even keep all 4, and have a slight cash flow, but very slow equity gain except the initial 36% percent that I bought them at.   

There are a lot of resources you can turn to and many you will find right here on BP.My advice is to just please go slow.  

Recently got laid off due to it REALLY slowing down up there.

Maybe because I am a Realtor myself, I never have a problem finding a great agent but I've had slow starts due to the wrong property manager.So, if you use a property manager in that market and have great things to say, please let me know. 

She tried her best to reform me, she would sit my sister and I down with milk and fresh baked cookies and give us a English lesson until she finally figured out that the milk and cookies seemed to slow down our learning process.  

Conventional/203K = slow, lots of paperwork, reasonable price to pay.If you know what you're doing, get a HML.

 :)  Clientlook was great and I was not going to look any more but unfortunately it turned out to be very slow, which was driving me a bit nuts!