I got 2 tips for you straight out of my own play book, I don't know of any other doing this I just started doing it myself and it worked.

@Nathan SmithIf you are at all mechanically inclined, I’d try to find a paid internship/apprenticeship program in the trades, such as electrician, plumbing, HVAC.This would expose you to renovation work while making a good salary and without taking on debt.Personally, I went straight to a pretty good public university and got a mostly useless liberal arts degree because that’s what everyone told me was the right thing to do.After ski bumming for years, I got hired as a nuclear reactor trainee by GE.

He is very experienced and also is the host of the Straight Up Chicago Investing podcast which is very informative. 

The apartment building went straight to a property manager and the mold remediation company was the "focus".

That is small and most likely a very basic box with a straight A roof.

So skip going to a GC first, definitely forget doing any of the work yourself, and go straight to finding an architect.

Straight shot on I 80 from NYC.

Well that's kind of a look yourself in the mirror question and answer with a straight face. 

Yeah.....it is straight up mortgage fraud.....and you have announced it to the world.  

So I went 1 for 2, straight across, closing 2 days apart, no banks, no debt on either end.