I am still a year out from making my first real estate investment by simple fact that I do not have the requisite # of credit lines to obtain a mortgage loan and also because I would like to save up as much as possible to account for emergency costs that I may face.With that being said - how would you guys recommend a new to-be investor to best save and/or grow his money with an approximate one year time window prior to making a real estate investment? 

Ryan, We have unsecured LOC's they are easy to obtain if you have good credit.

Probably as with most folks I want to obtain as low a premium as possible, however that is subject to a number of other factors.

A result of the 2007/2008 crisis was that lenders were unable to sell their loans and move them off their balance sheets as quickly as they had been able to before and so they stopped bring more debt onto their balance sheets (meaning they stopped lending).. and it became harder to obtain refinancing. 

One might have to use a non traditional method, future redev, add rooms, vacation rental or half way house type deal to obtain.

Any suggestions on how to obtain one or who to go to?

Are there any investors here that have had success obtaining a purchase price using this method?

I have only been a resident here for a short time so I am still trying to figure out the market, as well as educate myself before taking the plunge and doing my first deal.As I have been educating myself for the past several months I have determined that buy-and-hold investing is the niche I would like to use in obtaining my financial freedom.

I want to obtain a GC license in the state of NC (wake county) are there any preferred study materials for the exam that any one could recommend?

Why not see if he's open to obtaining that before resorting to letting him go?