We were forced to quickly learn the ins and outs of the local court, evicting 5 residents, and starting the process in several other cases, prompting the tenants to leave.Key lessons gleaned during the first year were:1)To attract good tenants, you need to have attractive properties.

Truthfully, if you bring this type of deal to an investor, they will self-evaluate...but time is valuable, so a complete scope of work with a comp analysis all bundled up makes the deal initially attractive, which is what you want (what is my cash on cash, ROI, Cap rate, IRR, etc...)...otherwise you run the risk of getting caught up with someone that can't close on the property...if @Richard Francois actually considered taking title to this property, he would be F"*cked rather quickly.

At the time I got these later 30 year loans, the interest rate premium didn't seem attractive enough to go with the 15.  

Generate a little money, then use some of it to...Begin doing low-cost marketing (postcards, door hangers, etc.) to attract sellers, and then start wholesaling yourself.Identify and talk to as many serious buyers as you can, then go back to that established investor or wholesaler from Step 1 and arrange a joint venture wherein you'll help them sell their deals (to buyers you bring) for a piece of the wholesale fee.These three tactics alone could get you learning the business tomorrow, if you wanted!

My current goals are to begin with my first flip in early 2016, eventually getting into buy & hold real estate as well, since my lease is up in 11 months, I'll probably use my VA loan and look into house-hacking next year as well.I'm thinking of looking somewhere in the range of 35k-60k houses and hopefully making profits of 10-20k (not positive how realistic this goal is yet until I narrow down to a particular zip code)After that will be the fun task of searching for a lender, but I won't get into that too deeply as my first step is choosing a farm area (if that's even necessary here) My girlfriend and I have been considering Hollywood, based on how it's getting more and more attractions in that city (margarita-ville for example) but I'd love to get some advice from the experts who know this area much better than I!

#3 is most attractive to me.#2 is most professional looking.#1 is awful.

This is slightly better location and more attractive to family.

@Clinton Cook, while I have not used the Sterling Vikrell products before (thanks for the introduction to them), I do like that that are homogeneously colored throughout and the price point is most certainly attractive.  

Due to the nature of the neighborhoods and level of renters that they attract, I am always at low risk as the people I will get consistently have high credit ratings and good incomes.

Flips in that neighborhood could also be attractive, but there's a low ceiling for the ARV.