I think the biggest lesson I just learned is to work with someone who fully understands my story, goals, and helps me to realize all of that (in addition to having a rock solid criteria to start with). 

and no we fish in the same pond so your not my target investment you could not produce near enough return for me to be remotely interested :)  But I do refer investors to very well run syndicators on occasions and I completely disagree with you on the small crowd funding investments I think ( no I KNOW) once the rules change this is going to be huge and a great deal for the small investors AS LONG AS THEY CHOOSE the best in Breed like Bryan Hancock talks about..

i'd also sell most everything i own that doesn't bring in a profit (something which i did over the past 2 mos)the good news is with 25% down ur bound to find a willing lender but based on DTI it gonna be an unconventional source, which is the bad news since u dont want that route.so id cash out existing mortgage since theres obviously little/no cash flow on that property. reinvest into an income producing house. just what i'd do, just sayin.

The property was never vacant and the only repairs I had to do was replace the kitchen faucet and sheet rock. 

Put another way, higher risk usually demands higher reward.You can take a peek at my profile to see where I'm invested, but I've been analyzing properties on the market for a while, and here's what I've observed, in general:-Lower income properties generally produce higher ROI, but come with a higher risk of damage/repairs.

I want to learn as much as I can about making smart investment decisions and gathering cash producing assets.

We want wealth…There are 3 items on the list: 1.Forced appreciation2.Income-producing property3.Land-locked markets in which due to fundamentals growth outpaces investingI don’t know any other ways to create wealth, which is to say to increase my buying power.

But you need to get in contact with the bank and their attorneys to determine the past due amount to halt the foreclosure and the payoff amount so that you now know exactly what you need to gain control of the foreclosure.You need a signed Option or Purchase agreement as well and I would definitely be looking to wholesale by contacting some Top Producing agents in the area and seeing what retail buyers they have looking in that area who would be interested in buying a nice home As/Is/.If not with an agent you could also blast or co-wholesale to the investors in your area!

Get your real estate license and go to work fir a top producing agent as a licensed assistant so you can kearn the ropes and get paid while you learn.

With such low rent to value ratios it is hard to get the right cash flow to produce the rates of return necessary.