Finding a private investor that will assist is harder than expected.

. $1000 on a roof from a reputable company vs tracking down some one if things go wrong... not something I would want to spend time/energy/money on.  

Hire a lawyer to assist in the purchase and to review the HOA financials and regulations pertaining to investors.Buy with minimum down/maximum leverage if you hope to gain true positive cash flow.Dead equity and HOA fees will seriously cut into your cash flow and turn the investment into a liability.

If you have credit up to a certain level, most counties do down payment assistance and have other kinds of grants that promote homeownership for people who don't have a lot of money of the greatest credit.

I was kind of caught by surprise and felt like I just keep spending money, of course its was well worth it, but I am a planner so finding out when something is due drives me crazy.  

If self managed, how much time do you spend on it each month and what is your time worth?

So as of now I’m one-man operation (on the managing side of the business) and time to time I have an assistant help me.

I'm also looking for any real estate professionals who would be willing to let me work for/with them on a part-time basis as an assistant, "bird dog", or whatever they might need so I can get some real world experience.I look forward to getting to know everyone!

You will be pretty much be saving because you wont have the time to spend the money!

I think there's a fundamental problem with that pay-per-lead approach for us the consumers, I want a contractor that's good and can be recommend by previous customers, not a contractor that spends the most dollars to show up first place on my screen.