I would do 2nd mortgage with the interest as high as allowed by your state to secure your investment and the balance of the promised return should be in your JV agreement in the LLC.

You could then use that $95k to secure financing for another $300k in property. 

if anybody knows people who are involved with buying and selling non performing and performing notes please list there names by replying to my post, thank yousome other strategies that i've came up with to find notes for sale are researching institutional buyers and sellers for mortgages back securities 

If I could secure a good rate with the HEL it may be the best option, but then don't HEL's typically require short loan periods (5-15 years)?

That is how I got into it almost 20 years ago in Rochester & it has afforded multiple additional purchases & "practice" in this line of work, all while maintaining a regular full time job. 

My Ira buys the property, the Ira secures a non recourse loan and the tenants rent pays the PITI and provides some cash flow to my IRA.

Having done trash removal every way I know of from myself to a Craigslist guy to putting it with the regular trash, I have found the best, fastest, least aggravating way is just getting a dumpster.

Should I try to secure a FHA first time homeowner's loan so I can put a smaller payment down?

@Jonathan Yip you should have price drops at regular intervals until it sells.

The first step when you are ready meaning you have gained all the knowledge that you are going to get out of webinars,E-Books, seminars etc... is securing the capital you need in order to proceed with your real estate career.