You should start with a entire in-depth study of both real estate investing and finances.

So I kicked the habit - I stopped going to seminars and started to apply some of those ideas that were preached by speakers who were experts at extracting fees from me.I started to attend real estate auctions, studying the process - watching others make a lot of money - I decided to get a credit line - increase my credit card limits and started looking for properties (cheap- ugly buildings) in the neighborhood where real estate auctions were taking place - my primary goal at this time was to learn the market in the area where I wanted to control real estate - I would look at 50-60 houses (but made no offers - when agents would try to qualify me I just said "I have a small inheritance and will not need financing) - I kept a journal of the price per square foot,  comparing properties, and all comments made by sellers and agents (this helped me to find the seller dominate selling motive),  that was helpful - but I soon discovered that I was just looking for real estate in the conventional way  - I needed to do something else - so I started to look for owners of real estate who had problems (I applied Power Prospecting formulas) and at the same time studying creative real estate techniques from the old masters in the industry - became a member of the Washington Real Estate Exchange, hosted a real estate investor club and started to give mini creative financing seminars  while networking with those I wanted to emulate. 

I'm an engineer in the oil and gas industry, I moved to Louisiana 5 years ago for work (4 years in the Lafayette area with 1 in New Orleans in the middle).I discovered BP a couple months ago while offshore on a work project.

Study the subject, quantify your equity, identify the risks, find an attorney, and look for BP experts. 

Picture coming to work after an amazing weekend filled with plenty of fun and plenty of R&R only to discover that all of your to-dos are DONE.All the errands you had to run—DONE.All the admin tasks you were dreading—DONE.All the tedious charts and analyses and spreadsheets—DONE, DONE and DONE.This is not out of the realm for your business, believe it or not.

Hi, my name is Ariel and I am currently studying finance at Fordham University.

Then I go to another lender and they want to pre-qual with a credit check as well... now I have two credit reports pulled, thus dinging my credit score, when the lenders could have discovered those (non-credit report) reasons for denying me without dinging my score.

Sifting through online records tonight I've discovered the home sold (brand new) in 2010 for 212,000.

Not having a full market study, specific to this property is like starting a business without the prior market study and assuming arbitrarily that you'll get a market share of x%.

I discovered BP a while ago but didn't really get involved until recently.