So while our work is different, we are on the same page about finances and spending. 

Use private money BRRR.

One more thing...now I am wondering what I should be doing first:1) Reach out to the seller first to get a feel for if he'll pay for the repair to see if he just immediately shoots me down on it.or 2) Contact a structural engineer first to get the ball rolling so I can have a more informed discussion with the seller on what needs to be doneI'm just wondering if I should be spending more money on this property before getting a better idea of whether or not this deal can go through.

I spend most of my time as an Active Duty Pilot, but when I have free time, I have been looking for any suitable properties to start out with and any community functions with like minded individuals.

I would think about how much you want to spend, how much time you can commit, and how competitive you want the market to be. 

I’m also searching for private and hard money lenders.Please let me know if anyone can help

. - it depends on a combo of how much you’re willing to spend monthly, how much residential sales you intend to do, and what the broker would expect. 

I attended one of this company's auctions last weekend just to get a feel for how these private estate auctions go, and it kind of went like this: auctioneer asked for an opening amount, no one bid, one of the auctioneer helpers bid it lower, then some people started chiming in, and it went back and forth between a few people before finally ending about 25% higher than the number the auctioneer started at. 

If you don't want to go that route, you need to find a private money lender.

And that makes it worth it.For your initial walk through you don't want to be spending a lot of time "inspecting" the property.