I work for Amazon as a Software Engineer, and am very interested in purchasing my first rental property.

Hard money lenders look at the profitability of the deal while a personal loan from a bank looks more at the financial standing of the borrower.If the money is just for a rehab, you can secure a personal loan at any time, but it'd be best to have the property already lined up as the loan begins to generate interest as soon as it issued and you don't want that loan burning a hole in your pocket while you're looking for a property.If the money is for acquisition and rehab, then you'd want to get pre-approved before searching for a property.

I know it is not always easy to and and guilty sometimes of trying to help someone too much and I usually get burned or have to deal with drama.You did the right thing by not renting to them.

I’m currently a software engineer with no real estate experience aside from a 1 credit intro to real estate class in college.

The minimized gains from your first deal is essentially you investing in training and "insurance" that you don't get burned.

My husband is an engineer and all of my friends are engineers.  

Just know that a lof of engineer live there that they are a little more budget conscience than your average DFW tenant.

Addressing the problems is like trying to put out small individual fires in a forest that is burning.

I moved to Daytona Beach, where I attended Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and earned a B.S. in Engineering Physics.

Much less good ones.My wife is on the fence about it and honestly I'm pretty burned out with another problem rental and my 50 hour a week day job.