Respectfully, your mentor should have taught you look for deals in the wholesale pond (off market properties) instead of the retail pond (listed properties).

Please feel free to PM me for any guidance towards respectable wholesalers whom we can connect with to learn more about the area. 

A lot of forum members are very knowledgeable in their respective fields related to real estate investing, whether that is real estate sales, wholesaling, flipping, rentals, lending, self-directed IRA and Solo 401k investing, or tax and legal guidance.

A lot of forum members are very knowledgeable in their respective fields related to real estate investing, whether that is real estate sales, wholesaling, flipping, rentals, lending, self-directed IRA and Solo 401k investing, or tax and legal guidance.Discounts on some products and services are offered to BP members: https://www.biggerpockets.com/perks/proIf you haven’t been to it already, you might want to check out the BP blog: https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/The site has quite a few tools that can be helpful for new members.

That way you don't upset the current tenant until the house actually sells.Then treat the tenant with respect and work out a reasonable solution for them to have time to find a new place to live.

There are also very local factors that affect each market, meaning the local economy, job growth, demographics, local lending, insurance costs, property taxes etc. and these have an equal or greater affect on prices, inventory, rental rates, etc. in each respective market.For more info on the market cycle and what stage some of the major cities are in check out this article below:https://joefairless.com/what-stage-in-the-market-cycle-is-your-target-apartment-investment-market/

What's valuable for me isnt for you and I respect that.

In addition, if you are self-employed with no full-time employees you may wish to consider opening a Solo 401k instead of a self-directed IRA as it has several advantages over an IRA LLCsuch as much higher contribution limits, direct checkbook control (i.e. no need to have the account at a specialty trust company), ability to take a 401k loan, exclusion from unrelated debt finance income tax with respect to investment in real estate acquired with non-recourse financing, etc. 

Otherwise your other option is to get various trades to sign off on their respective components (Plumbing, Electrical, HVAC, Structure, etc.).

A lot of forum members are very knowledgeable in their respective fields related to real estate investing, whether that is real estate sales, wholesaling, flipping, rentals, lending, self-directed IRA and Solo 401k investing, or tax and legal guidance.The site has quite a few tools that can be helpful for new members.