For the latter two, we did raise the rent, but we also put several thousand dollars in rehab in each house and provided superior customer service. 

It just saved me thousands.

If you are subsidising a tenants rent you are not only losing income, the sole purpose of investing, you are also devaluing your property by 10s of thousands of dollars.

When I submit my offer that is justified by our needs of certain levels of return on our investment I am looking at offers hundreds of thousands of dollars below asking price.  

I am sure I have missed this among the thousands of blog articles and forum posts, but I am looking for a little advice if anyone can point me in the right direction.I am interested in flipping my first house within the next year (I do not have a deal yet, but I am looking).I understand that the general trend for selling is during the summer or early fall months.Does anyone have any recommendations on a rough time frame for buying a property?

I currently have three thousand dollars and my goal is to invest in my first property in four years.

Be prepared for delays,lots of them.Rain and snow(if any) can ruin the days you had scheduled to repair the roof,paint the exterior,repair or change the landscape or driveway,etc.Also,if you're trying to sell single family homes beware,parents don't normally want to move their children to a new home and possibly to new schools in the middle of a bitter cold winter.Only if you price the home well below the after repair value and give them some instant equity will you get good enough offers to accept.Even in warmer weather states like California and Florida,finding multiple offers from families with school aged children can be difficult.Be prepared for the home to sit on the market for 90 days or more until it gets closer to the end of the school year.

However, too much leverage has ruined many investors so its definitely important to understand your limits. 

I have read thousand's of post's and listened to several of podcast before creating an account and attempting to network.

There was a building boom when the base realignments across the US were supposed to send thousands of people to Fayetteville.