Thanks for the mention @Stuart Grazier, you're spot on.

Good people and good information has led me to a spot where I’m anxiously close to embarking on my first deal.  My question concerning my 401k is this: I’ve recently pulled 25K out of my 401k to invest in buy and hold RE with no early withdrawal penalties.

It's a tourist spot, though it doesn't get crowded given the city's rep.

Or you can come up with creative deal making strategies if the seller really doesn't want to deal with agents.Lastly we tell them this is not something we can tackle, and tell them to just list it with their favorite agent.

In my PA market I collect paper rental applications and charge the potential renter what my Apartment Association charges me to run the credit and criminal check. 90% of the time when a tenant likes a place they'll fill out the rental application on the spot and will give me the cash to run the application. 

Combine them allWith just about enough education and knowledge , you may develop some kind of tunnel vision to be able to spot motivated sellers.

These typically have ad spots.

Everything you've listed in pretty much spot on. 

Google Ingrid Robinson she has a great site on how to spot Advanced fee schemes she was the subject of an American Greed episode.. 

I'm in TX, where series LLCs are doable, and you're spot on with the benefits of them.