It will only motivate you to work harder and achieve more.  

The Starting Out forums can help you out , you'd read a lot of motivational stories how some members got started and got the ball rolling. 

I've already sorted through some basic numeric parameters via excel.  

See what had happened was that it was a HUD property and as an agent I can't bid on HUD properties if my broker also lists properties for HUD (They think we have some sort of hidden advantage).

Why don't you ask for some sort of credit from the seller at closing that will give you enough cash to replace the roof right after closing?

Seller still lives in the home thus, may not be very motivated to sell at the moment. 

My intentions are to purchase single-family homes from motivated sellers and hold them as rentals in a relatively small geographic area (Edwardsville, IL). 

Hello everyone, I'm living in Atlanta for almost 5 years now and I'm motivated to get more into real estate investing full time. 

I was thinking some sort of a ledge or shelf across the width of the sink? 

Not a motivated seller.