There are "deals" to be found in that area, but the schools are poor, and your rental rates will be low. 

In order to get into this property i will most likely have to co sign with a family member since my credit is around 698 and i only make around 42,000 after taxes.

Clear all other debt and push your credit score as high as you can.

Should I focus on just securing funds for the down payment and closing costs or should I be concerned about creating some sort of reserves for said rental property (to account for any vacancies and expenses)I assume I need to make sure that in the event I cannot rent out the property we are able to cover the expenses relating to this house in additional to our own personal mortgages but I’m not too worried about this (please let me know if I should be worried)Outside of my mortgage and some credit card debt which will be paid off by the end of this month I do not have any other debt.Are there other factors that I should be considering?

Hard money lenders base their loan more on the Hard Asset then on your credit.

If someone has excellent credit and want to invest in Real Estate, where does one start?

Do you still have cash, lines of credit or other funds that you can use to get your next deal in? 

We both have great credit and will have about $12;000 saved together by December.

I would have saved myself a lot of headaches and money by doing a background and credit check on existing tenants.

Is it a greedy seller who wants top dollar for a pile of poo, or someone who is actually going to work with the guys/gals who are going to execute the project and have their butts/reputations/credit scores on the line?