I primarily loan my own money in my area and to people I know who are other investors.

Becoming a Key Principal (KP) in other people’s commercial real estate deals is a great way to shelter your income, participate in several deal at the same time, minimize / spread out risk, capture equity w/ a preferred double-digit return at a discount cash-out-of-pocket investment. 

I read about people who purchase a property, obtained some equity, and used the HELOC on that property to buy their next.

There are some people "real estate consultants" who will give you detailed reports: if they think this is better for a flip, rental, what rents you could get, recommended repairs (not as detailed as an inspection report). 

Right now my focus is simply to learn all I can and connect with people who are immersed in this world.

I did what people who were successful suggested I do, and it worked.

Greenville has a little better population growth and is about 90K people, roughly the size of Rocky Mount and Wilson combined.

Nothing special How did you finance this deal?

I want to know of people’s previous experience with them before I proceed.

When I rented my townhouse this spring I had numerous people begging for it.