If you are fix & flipping, they bring you deals that you can partner with them to F&F and they have the contractors, lenders, mentors and project managers that make it a one-stop-shop.  

My military time has come to an end and I am looking for a mentor who knows the trade of real estate.

Then got the sales call, they wanted to sell a one on one GURU for $25,000 I was honestly considering it, just figuring out how to finance it when I ran into one of my new mentors at Home Depot who brought me to BP and saved me all that buying potential! 

This may be true if its the standard first time buyer who has no mentor or real estate investing experience or if we're just thinking from a one dimensional perspective which may be typical from most lenders whom are not investors themselves.Whose paying the MI is just semantics because a savvy investor could just as easily put 3.5% down on a owner occupied fourplex, live in one unit and rent the three units out, delegate the cost of MI to his/her tenants, improve the value of the property, refinance out to remove MI completely and only be paying MI for 6-8 months or so if they located the right type of value add deal.Those are the strategies BP'er want to hear not that you cant avoid MI with less than 20% down or 20% equity which only achieves to end the creative mind.

My plan is to take the next 6 months and learn as much as possible as well as find a mentor to help me as I get started.

You need a good, dedicated broker/mentor.  

I'm not allowed to ask for a mentor here, so I'm not, I'm just introducing myself. 

I am looking for a mentor in my current market - this is my current main goal (other than finding a deal) so I can learn from them and maybe even do deals together so I can build a little capitol to do it myself. 

-Kyle MarburgerKyle,I'm sure you can find a mentor on this website.  

I am new to real estate and I am looking for a mentor in my area, or whomever I can get assistance from.