I would rather invest sooner than later and begin creating passive income, but I am having a hard time finding a good property within my budget that can cash flow effectively.

You might want to call a few sooner to gauge terms for your underwriting.

I just worry that if I go this route since I am new, it may be hard to find a good PM that can work with me to help get the property rented out quickly vs. a turnkey provider already has that system in place and can potentially get the property rented out sooner. 3. once I buy my first property, how long do I have to wait before I can get a new loan for my next property? 

I felt guilty for not speaking up sooner, I made the mistake of trusting them to do the right thing and not setting boundaries with them.

I had planned originally to use all our own cash to fund the projects, but since I want to scale and reach our FIRE goals sooner rather than later, opting to go with private money lenders so that $100k can pay for 3-4 down payments on projects as well as have less invested in case it goes south somehow and I need to sell/get out.

Sooner the better too because costs will go up the longer you wait.  

The sooner you catch this the better, as you are not collecting any interest on a void lien.

To offer an alternative, why not refinance in 5 years or sooner to pay him off vs selling to keep a cash flowing rental?

Pay off sooner.

Hey @Dan Sheeks, I read your article and honestly I wish I would have come across your article sooner!