The "bonus room" is a bedroom that was a garage conversion, so it's a bit awkward in that it's on a lowered slab compared to the house by a step.

I have found a few fundng options in the last 24 hours.The challenges I am facing are as follows:Firstly, I am 18 years old, I am super determined in owning my first property in the next 3 months, but I am still writing my final exams.

It is the fine details that are often different (eg, there is no such thing as a forclosure in Ontario, there is no "courthouse steps" auction, there is no "absentee owner list" and the rules regarding landlord/tenant are wildly anti-landlord here).

I can't speak on how demo is done in certain states but from what I could tell you being a license contractor here in NY and you being in NJ which should not be much difference is do the following steps.1- have them demo and take everything plumbing and electric.2- the only scrap metal you should keep is copper, but also negotiate with the demo grew to reduce some cost if they want the copper, all other scrap metals are not word it.3- has for the electric, just have them leave you 2 plugs because that's all you need until you update all your electrical. mostly all power tools are cordless so I doubt you will blow a fuse and you don't need any light because you work will be done during the day.ALSO NOTE: do not have anybody mess/touch/remove with any electrical panel or any electrical box, leave that for a license electrician to do because thats a big safety issue that could bring a lawsuit if a non-license electrician gets any injury for attempting to do so.

I only have a couple years of experience as an agent but I love what I am doing and want to step it up and progress further into my career.  

This may be a long post, but I thought it would be good to walk through everything step-by-step, and explain my thinking along the way.If you want to stick with me through it all, here we go:I was not going to be getting a conventional mortgage for my first property for a number of reasons.First, I am still annoyed at the hoops I had to jump through to get a mortgage for my primary residence.Second, my liquid cash was on the lower end.Third, the properties that I would need to start out with would not be financeable anyway.Fourth, my DTI is on the high side, due to the decision that we made to take out a HELOC to complete interior improvements on my primary house.So, I decided that my path was going to be to form a single member LLC, and take a loan from my 401(k) at work to finance the down payment.Since I do not view the 401(k) loan as a long-term solution, I am treating like hard money, and pay it off ASAP.So, my first deal would be a flip, or a rental that was such a good deal, that I could re-fi out and pull all my cash out.I decided to reach out to the commercial lending department of the local credit union, which I am a member.The person I talked to (who became my lender) is fantastic.I told him what types of properties I was looking for, and that I’d look to turn them into rentals, or to flip them.I will never forget his response, which reminded me why I love this credit union.He said:“Typically, the deals you are talking about are much smaller than the deals we like to do.However, we also realize that you can not get to that level unless someone helps you get there.So, if the numbers make sense, we will see if any of our products fit.”Awesome!

After 24 years on the road we want a new challenge and real estate investing is the path we have chosen.  

@Jd Martin, would I be able to step the rent price up in a single lease?

However prices on those assets are very high right now, so it has been challenging locating one Id like to purchase.

I know there's some challenges ahead i'm ready to face them.