So you must be laser focused, realistic and do a lot of homework on the ARV of the property you're BRRRR'ing.

@Josh Walker the best thing you can do is have realistic criteria, just as you wouldn't go to a realtor in San Diego and ask for a 10% cap rate don't waste their time if your expectations aren't realistic. 

If I can get it ~5% some of these look salvageable.Honestly though, it feels like I would still need to find property for 40 to 50 cents on the dollar to realistically make anything work.

I plan to meet with my mortgage lender soon; but how realistic am I being about getting, let's say, a 400-500k loan for a property?

Have realistic standards and a reasonably priced unit. 

Can you realistically do just about everything on your own?

However the idea is to start small, and I was thinking that possibly there is less competition at that level since most investors or flippers are looking to make more than 20k profit - which is probably a realistic expectation for this scenario. 

This provides you an actual cash-flow number, while also giving you realistic expectations for when/if you move out of it and want to keep renting it.

Realistically, the only way to do so is to become a solo broker. 

In some markets, 3% annual rent growth is not realistic.