I've always had an interest in real estate and believed it is a good investment stream.

Dwell finance.

@Ben Naughton, You need to look into the private lenders such as Lima One Capital and Dwell Finance, etc. that cater to RE investors.

My primary focus is to do fix and flips early on, as my husband is a contractor and I think that we will find the best revenue stream this way.

If the leases are new then the cash flow stream isn't seasoned or stabilized yet over lengthy period of time.

They also said foreclosures are close to retail prices right now and that short sales would be the best bet for a good deal.I know that agents should only be 1 of many stream for finding properties but it was a little deflating to hear.

That doesn't seem like a bad estimate, it's a touch low maybe,  Generally speaking I see around 2.00-6.00 per $1000 of the Total Insured Value for replacement cost.. a DP3 (dwelling fire policy) for 100k will "generally" run around $600 annually (low deductibles).

I would like to create a new stream of income by flipping houses with little to no investment money.  

Every income property has two separate income streams one being the property the other the equity.

There are number of other factors you need to be looking at but if you purchase income producing asset inside of your Roth IRA (it doesn't have to be real rental btw, you can invest in a trust deed, do private lending, etc.) you can have tax-free income stream for the rest of your life (assuming you do that after 59 1/2).