@Tajuana W.The first steps to success in a relationship intensive business like real estate investing is to educate yourself and build the team (partners) you need to monetize leads.

I really have been pleasantly surprised by a lead that came from my Craigslist ads that has developed into a huge deal.I have a family that was losing there farm to foreclosure who contacted me asking if I could buy there farm and allow them to stay there.

You're not stuck to one area, and it can lead you to a more passive style of investing.

If you complete a few successful transactions your first lenders may lead you to many more.

Typically this is when seller offers to pay closing costs on REO properties (HUBZU being the primary source of this annoying process, the extra party can cause excessive lead time when minor issues arise such as closing date shift or last minute credit grant).

Keep in mind my partner and I have been working a full time 50+ hour per week J O B so we did not want to over extend ourselves and waste leads. 

So, I'm considering mailing some probate leads.

The best plan for this lead seems to be cash buy & hold, private money funded rehab & refi with a small local bank.But I'm too much of a newbie still for all that, lol.I'll see if I can get it under contract with a max. offer of $8500.. starting offer $6k.

If your relationship is good, those leads could be fed to you.

This will lead you to secondary and tertiary markets to find deals, which lead to additional operational challenges if you don't have an appropriate asset management strategy designed for smaller markets.