Tread very carefully and look at mitigating your downside as much as possible.  

This resulted in a rodent being trapped in the wall and possibly died.

That's not including the possibility of value adding on a property.

Auto emails of properties under 90k would be awesome if that is possible.

I've heard advice on varying ends of the spectrum on how to and even the possibility of wholesaling REOs.

Comp with as close of houses (in terms of proximity and housing stock) that you possibly can. 

I have spent the better part of the last few weeks going over one particular deal for a possible buy and in Harrisburg pa, contacting the seller once thus far in the last week to no avail.

Looking for a mentor/coach in the local Indy area, possibly further, if it could work out. 

I am mainly familiar with the deal structures in which I am a passive investor and that only covers a small percentage of the possible structures.#2 - You pay $50k as the sponsor, you raise $950k from private investors and you finance $4 million with the bank...$5 million total purchase price. 

My focus is primarily going to be to buy, renovate, and flip (possibly in the Metairie/Kenner location) to start out.