There are other real estate investments that range in passivity but are all much easier to manage from NNN stand alone projects to ground leases, even raw land in series in the path of progress.  

Your message makes sense, The most common way to make progress toward a second property is to make the first property one that is a duplex or triplex, so you can live there and rent part of the property out to generate income right from the start, basically paying your mortgage.

My wife and I are willing to start our journey with a live and flip, for the best price of course, and want to make sure the agent understands our goals to help us progress successfully!

I appreciate the info and I'll certainly follow your progress too.

Bet on number 7 in the second race if you live across from the track....No really.....One oddball I have read in a couple of books and even online (here and elsewhere) that may have some merit is juding a potential property/tenants by their vehicles....( not the only metric for sure but just one observable factor of many to consider along with all the other data points and best practices).If the place you are looking at has a bunch of older inefficient, beater cars in the lot, this may be a management issue (leaking oil, immobile cars, unsightly) AND also eating up the tenants monthly paychecks in repairs, fuel, etc. 

.: Banks are the best bet for this type of loan.

You bet.

It goes unstated, but many times I'd bet they are leveraged to the hilt with debt in order to grow so fast ... again, that is great so long as the RE market is strong as it has been.

The local banks are your best bet,  but know they are evaluating you as much as your property.

I plan to start this summer and will keep everyone updated on my progress.