I worked at the same company as @Tyler Henry on the Real Estate Services team and recently relocated to Branson to become an agent and look for deals.

I find good deals more often than I can afford to purchase them.

Of course, after you tell them that, you do keep trying to help them, and work out a deal that everyone is happy with in the end.

Or should I try to find a deal now and start the loan process?

Nice mixed use property came up for sale practically in my back yard in rural, south of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  10 residential apartments + 3 commercial spaces.  They are asking 950K.Gross rents: 100,800Utilities: ...

Appreciate detailed calculations and clarifications on if/how this is calculated different from a new deal.

As it is right now, it is not a good deal for anyone. 

Lastly, the price point is still very cheap here in the sense that you can still find investment deals that hit the 1% rule for 120-180k!

However, finding these deals can be quite challenging if you are new to this market, as it varies street by street.

You would have to buy that property (or a % of it) and then contribute it into a new LLC.Since you're buying the actual real estate as a tenant in common it does become a little easier to deal with the debt.