any other general tips?

Hopefully it will have some good tips for you in there too. https://www.biggerpockets.com/...Best of luck at college!

It would be greatly appreciated if any of you had any tips or suggestions for me to get my brokers career heading in the right direction.

What are your best tips for a beginner in the real estate industry to reneg on the offers? 

I'm not using a contractor so on my own on this one, but a good tip nonetheless, I do know contractors I could ask.

The private lender will have no equity in the deal but only make a return on their investment.I am not going to be living in this property as my primary residence so my question is because you can't use "gift money" to purchase an investment property through a conventional loan, what are my options to work around this and be able to use the private money to acquire the property?

Another tip.

The power-play that I love to incorporate is to use the cards to purchase gift cards from a company like Raise or Cardcash. 

You may give an unlicensed person a non-cash gift worth $50 or less in exchange for a referral and not violate The Real Estate License Act (TRELA) or Texas Real Estate Commission rules.

.- Non traditional methods for payments could be requested like Zelle, Cashapp, Venmo etc.Here are few tips which can help you prevent a scam:- Check the public records of the property in your local county and see if the owner's name matches to the person you are talking to.- Ask if they have office and look up the business.- Check if the property is currently listed for rent or sale on multiple places by different people.