I was on the agency bad boy list for about a year, but ultimately the deal was saved, and we ended up making a 18% annualized yield. 

Now, once we moved in here we realized that everything needed to be fixed or replaced (even though it didn't seem like that when purchasing) so appreciation also kinda saved our asses too in this case. 

A better strategy would be to get your finances in order, get a job that pays well enough to save, and when you have saved some and have built your credit, look into real estate.

Bad credit, no savings, a low-paying W-2 job, etc.

I have about 25K saved up and make about 60K a year.

I plan to do it myself which would save some labor cost.

@Marcus Auerbach and @Joe VilleneuveWe have clients who have substantially grown their retirement savings both in notes and in real estate. 

Is there no longer a Pro Perk to save $5 with SmartMove tenant screening?

I purchase all the material myself using my card and save a minimum of 5% and the contractors like not having to do anything but go there and pick it up.  

Now the hard part, figuring out if i want to use that to snipe a great deal on our first property, attempt multiple properties at once, or save more and attempt to stay local in SoCal.