We are learning its a very hot & tight market & there are plenty of deals in the 80 cent on the dollar range and you really have to scour for Great deals.The best REIA is the DFW REI Club that meets every Sat in Ft Worth...

We've been scouring the local MLS and have even looked at a few properties brought to us by our Realtor before they hit the market, but so far, we haven't been able to buy anything because the foreclosures we've looked at have all been bought during the owner-occupied phase or we've just plain been out bid on other properties.

I am currently in the "learn everything I can" mode while I start to better learn the market through research and MLS scouring.  

I plan to live in one unit as I renovate.I have scoured the internet but have never found much information on what my options for financing are, and a couple phone calls I made to local banks did not do much good, as my goal of purchasing a property is very hypothetical because I will not be ready for another 6 months or so.  

I'm also going to scour this site for information on LLCs....right now our properties our under our personal names and an LLC never occurred to me.

Think of yourself as a mini-hedge fund, managing others' private equity.Alternatively, scour the local craigslist for 'owner' or 'seller' key words, you're looking for seller financing, usually investors ready to cash out but afraid of the capital gains taxes.Another option is 'subject to' deals, where you give a small down payment and simply take over the existing mortgage.

Scouring VRBO, Homeway, Flipkey has turned up pretty solid vacancy rates from Oct - Apr.

After scouring the web for hours for transactional funding companies and state tax websites.

FYI, my wife is a newer real estate agent which means we have access to the MLS, so if scouring that is a smarter way to go, that's an option as well.

So, the sole upside is that I've spent all morning scouring the internet working with the info that @Wayne Brooks shared, so I'm not in a position of (total) ignorance again.