My challenge is that I have a relationship with a Realtor who knows the area and specializes in new home sales. 

I rather pay a hard month lender and build that relationship to borrow over and over again then borrow against your 401k.

I also hit up individual investors in that market and start building relationships with them - they can help with all aspects - choosing people, neighborhoods, etc. and may eventually feed you deals. 

I could keep on going awhile about myself but this is about you.The first thing I want to tell you that having any experience does not effect what you want to do. 

Last but not least: it's relationship building journey in which investor and syndicator get to know eachother and educate on all aspects of the deal.

That makes the investment look a little better.Installing gas forced hot air will be less effective- depending on gas/oil prices, you might only save 10%, plus everyone will have to pay for extra gas service which could wipe out those savings. 

Having a great relationship with an investor friendly title agent will make the process a lot easier for you among other things.If you find one in your area you can usually just call them up to speak to an agent or set up a meeting to talk in person and ask any questions you want about clearing title, the costs, timing, etc.

Interacting face to face will help tremendously with forming those critical relationships to aid your progress.

What I wrote above does not create an attorney/client relationship between us.

I also wrote these three posts on how to find off-market leads, you might find a few nuggets in there:https://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/8814/72016-55-resources-to-find-real-estate-deals-onlinehttps://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/8814/71506-27-ways-to-find-off-market-and-wholesale-real-estate-deals-offlinehttps://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/8814/72664-35-relationships-to-help-you-find-more-houses-to-flip-or-wholesale