Also, Bend is having growth pains, with skyrocketing housing prices, that may prevent much entry-level investing soon.  

You'll find going for your first sale will slow down your training on other things, a reasonably stable yearly income level normally takes 18-24 months IMHO, becoming really good could take the rest of your life....

Not looking for funding at this level, but it explains the principle.A current deal i have is purchase price $43k, (deposit on day of 4.3k) remainder due several weeks later.

At the highest level we are buying a 3 family house where we will occupy 1 unit and rent out the remaining two units.

We love the Atlanta market, but the pricing has inflated to such a level it doesn't make sense for us to buy there.

I think its important to level the playing ground.  

Higher caliber friends aren't going to spend time with you unless you have improved yourself, at least somewhat, to their level.  

. $40k will not get you very far in las vegas or any place west. here in buffalo, we have a good market. the prices stay pretty level for the most part. the killer is the taxes. then again, we have the winter issues too. not only does it get very cold which makes it hard to work on a place, but we have winter about 6 months out of the year.....lol. as far as your credit, pick up a part time job in a field that you have been in before. then, the job is a lateral move, not starting a new job in which you would have to wait 2 years before you could get a loan. second, take $1000 of that $40k and put it into a bank. after a month, go get a $1000 signature loan from that same bank, using the $1000 you have in the bank as collateral. state that it is a short term loan that you intend on paying back in 6 months. then, take that borrowed $1000 and go to another bank and deposit it. after a month, borrow another $1000 from the second bank, again using the deposited $1000 as collateral. continue this with as many banks as you can. when the first note comes due, use borrowed money to pay it off and continue as such with each bank. what you are doing is establishing credit with these banks and soon you will be able to go into any one of those banks and borrow money because you have good credit with them. 

DETERMINATION is really the word you are looking for, no matter how motivated you feel or not, if you are determined - no level of motivation or lack there of will ever be your down fall.BE DETERMINED!!!!!!!

I wanted to reach out and network with other investors on BP see if we can help one another to get to the next level in our business.