You are in the best place on the web for accomplishing your REI goals.  

get references from the builder, ask for his last five jobs, talk to those people.Builders can be great sometimes, and bad at other times, it is almost what they can get away with.Don't pay until job is completed, do not pay up front, if the builder can't afford to buy material to start the job, you need to find a more secure builder.

I need to build my credit history starting with secured credit cards, work up to unsecured cards over the next few months before trying to qualify for mortgages with US banks later this year.  

I'm just securing the actual real estate for the deal w/ conv financing and I'm getting a 5yr NNN Lease w/ Purchase Option for my efforts. 

Whenever I just look at properties on the web for fun I always factor that in when im running the numbers.

I'm a retired 72 year old operations manager...who has more bills to pay than retirement social security income....can't find decent work....friends told me to try real estate investing....don't know anything about it but willing to learn......I'm a country person not a city person.

Here is the web address:  http://www.meetup.com/R_E_X_/.My best advice for you starting out is to listen to the BP podcasts and others, read books on real estate and network with as many people as you can.  

Moreover, I need to pay 5K above LP to secure this property and with my very first deal, I'm not getting the warm and fuzzy feeling.

This ROI is less than I generally like to secure, but the timing of things makes this purchase beneficial in a number of ways. 

Carl,Just because he says he's not selling securities doesn't mean it's true.