I have been trying to wholesale for the last 2 months...I decided to start with direct mailing as driving for $ seemed very tedious.  

Wow, small world eh, yeah Ilderton is literally just a 10 minute drive from me!

While you can't necessarily force appreciation by driving up NOI, you can often find better deals as sellers are less sophisticated than commercial sellers and you are eligible for residential financing which has owner occupant options of low down payment and interest rate.

This will drive more traffic, as there are many self-employed or people wanting to buy but held back by previous foreclosure/BK timelimites, divorce, etc hampering them from getting traditional financing, and if you're wanting to rent it again quickly, and sell eventually, this would be a good strategy for maximizing your cashflow during the turn.

They are not your legal counsel and cannot act as such.This type of joint venturing with yourself is promoted by some as safe and clean.  

Its my nature to take on some risks but being a newbie it seems like playing it safe to start "makes sense".

They think that higher yield is safe because of the cash flow when in fact the opposite is true.

don't overthink.education is never a bad thing but you want to make sure you don't start driving yourself crazy trying to analyze cap rates and other "rules". 

I also fell in love with the neighborhood, and it was a relatively easy drive from my home.

I also fell in love with the neighborhood, and it was a relatively easy drive from my home.