A former adviser to the Bass family of Fort Worth, Texas, Barrack founded Colony in 1991 and began investing in property in the wake of the savings-and-loan crisis.

I have been saving diligently as well – probably half the way towards a downpayment for a new property.Path 1:Refinance to 15 year, and work towards renting out my existing home.

Since that option would no longer be available I am assuming that I would need to save for a 20% down payment.  

I've finally saved up some money and am looking to invest in the Denver area.

I am very capable in excel, having manually and mentally run the numbers of multifamily units listed online I have found that none of them come close to meeting the 1% rule.

In our FL As Is contract, which you can find online (FARBAR AS IS) the inspection period is an absolute get out of jail free card, Paragraph 12.....something to the effect of "If buyer determines, at sole discretion of the buyer, that the property is not acceptable, Buyer may terminate this contract.....and the EM will be returned".  

Currently my wife and I are debt free including credit cards and saved up a decent chuck of change for retirement, mutual funds, stocks, and too much into CDs(lucky only one year at 3%).

...or through a service online like auction.com?

I'm wondering if I can save some money by doing some of the work myself or if a contractor has to do all the work.

I've learned a lot already from various online sources and books.