Partly because of the cost savings, but partly because of the knowledge you'll gain that will be important as you grow your portfolio. 

Using your example:  $200,000 Property Value X .85 = $170,000 Maximum Amount - $160,000 Remaining Loan= $10,000 Actual Cash Available I am no expert on using one property as collateral to purchase a second.  

So I guess my main question is where can I get started and who can I talk to about getting internships, experience, and knowledge in the real estate business.

Hoping you can share knowledge in the Richmond area.

Looking for real estate agent/ investor with knowledge of the market in south Boston.

After a few deals, I'm looking for the best way to structure this moving forward and would like experts preferably under one roof to help me set this up.

Thank you all for sharing your experience and knowledge.

BP is a great place gain knowledge and bounce ideas off of other like minded individuals.

There are several tax experts who are active here on the forum who might be able to assist you.But first you need to decide which type of retirement account is the right fit for you: you can have a custodial self-directed IRA, or you can enhance it with the checkbook control by setting up Checkbook IRA (aka IRA owned LLC).

Thanks for the great forum here & I look forward to making connections and absorbing and utilizing as much knowledge as I can!