The allure of MF is that you have a lot less exposure to major risk.

A mentor of mine had good advice -- offer a % per day bonus (of the total contractor amount) for every day they finish early, and on the flip side, a % discount for every day they are late (barring any major unexpected contingencies or scope).

Try to minimize this exposure. 

Finally, you have to convince the seller that exposure to the market through the MLS won't be better/cleaner than your option... 

In a competitive market we put a bonus on top of our standard commission for the buyer’s agent.  

Buy properties that you can force appreciate, come up with creative financing to minimize your exposure and you’ll be fine.

Repetition is the key as is exposure in the right places and targeting the right audience.And, if you have no business acumen at all, you will fail.I do think running a note business is a fantastic way to generate income from ground zero, especially if you REFER (or broker or whatever you want to call it) notes to institutional investors without putting up any of your own money and learn by watching what they do while you earn money at the same time.

If you don't have a mentor, try finding one and offering your time for free-- be a personal assistant or ask to help with the rehabs-- just getting exposure and understanding the ropes is very important!

I used automatic payroll withdrawals into mutual funds, saved Christmas money, any bonus funds, a small inheritance when my grandma died, and so forth...and got super aggressive about saving up for the next down payment.  

There is a project that has macro and micro fundamental analysts on many markets and their token is like a prepaid key that gives you access to the report or access to gain exposure to automated trading bots that acts upon the different research.