Brandon Turner agreed to 12% interest and 12 points on his first flip...but it got his foot in the door, so weigh the pros and cons once you get some idea of what rates/terms you are looking at.As for your second question....you always want to have money ready to deploy when you contact sellers, mainly because if the deal is good enough, you need to be ready to pull the trigger immediately or you will lose every solid deal to flippers with cash in hand. 

There are a number of real estate "investors" that want to invest but will never pull the trigger on a property.

By that time, the taxes have already been triggered, and any transfer of money from the LLC to you ("paying yourself") has no meaning for taxes.From here, you can complicate things if your life is too simple and too stress-free.You can treat yourself as an employee and start formally paying yourself, with paychecks and all that.

Just remember that whomever brings your the deal that you pull the trigger on, should get the commission. 

I then matured to buy a new investment property every time I PCS'd, but not necessarily at the next duty station, the move was just the trigger. 

Very excited but want to really make sure I cover all the bases I need to before I pull the trigger.

There’s a risk of triggering the banks Due-On-Sale clause by doing this, but I’ve also read that this is very rare if the loan is till being paid on time.What I didn’t realize is that HMLs most often only want to lend to LLCs!

I am tired of being in that analysis paralysis stage and need to pull the trigger. 

There’s a box for door-door which triggers you over to the sheriff who then has you fill out the solicitor background check paperwork...

I agree with Josh---if I was interested in getting the best deals in those price ranges, I would network like a madman with everyone who gets deals--fellow investors, realtors, wholesalers; be mindful and willing to pay (if needed) for others expertise and time and when the opportunity comes up, be prepared to pull the trigger (be a good buyer).