Any suggestions, tips, or alternate ideas are much appreciated.

Try to connect with some, see who you have a connection with.You'll have to determine whether you want to work with a small company ("2 guys and a truck"), which will save you money, but take longer to get your project done (and which can be the "funny breed" mentioned above), or a larger company, which will cost more, but usually get your project done more quickly and may have more than one estimator to look at projects.I'm a GC in Fort Worth, Texas, with 7 crews and two other estimators besides me.

I know that the properties down in Florida are way cheaper than anything I can find up around here but I do have alternative locations around here like Stamford CT, Bridgeport CT, Norwalk CT but I wanted some advice from an experienced investor what is the best option to go with for buying a first investment property?

It has often behaved as an alternative currency during troubled times.

Also, there are alternatives too.  

@James Miller yeah, the "not your lawyer" in your signature was cracking me up too...reminds me of the friend with the truck that always gets asked to help people move.  

Fix It's truck parked in front of the rental.

From many of the forums I have read a brokers license is needed in the state of Ohio for wholesaling.An alternative is to buy the property and then resell to another investor at a higher price in a short time period.

Make sure that alternative investments carry similar risks.

Just trying to see if there were other options I haven't considered or better alternatives....