I reccomend any of the BP books for building basic knowledge base - they're all easy to follow and have actionable steps.

Now I know why it is so important, because I may have been in trouble if I didn't take those extra steps to save more. 

I've wanted to do RE but initially didn't have the funds and didn't know how to get around that.

What would your next steps be?

I'll be consulting a lawyer soon, but wanted to put this out there for any initial feedback.

I live in Los Angeles, CA but the contractor would be on the ground and onsite for the first year, with me moving back home in 2020.My beginning steps was the Detroit market - after a year of research only this past Monday did all conversations lead to Atlanta.Any and all answers, suggestions, and advice is greatly appreciated, as this is my very venture into anything real estate.From what I vaguely know of Riverdale - make that your very last option as crime and lack of job growth was not too positive as of late 2017...only my one cent.Most excellent luck to you in bringing my birth city to life!

In conclusion, I'm re-reading all the ways we've side-stepped doing RUBS. 

To break through this initial struggle, stay positive and rely on that network of contacts you have been building.Look for Multiple Streams of IncomeNew investors generally want to be in the rehab world.

Would you say the first step before finding any deal or even researching how to find a deal is speaking with a CPA and Attorney to get everything structured correctly?

People post when a deal they've submitted initially looked profitable but they don't know how to put together a realistic and reasonable scope of work for the rehab and we tell them we need that in place before we will even send evaluators out to look at the property.