Appreciate any guidance as to how people have gone about this.Thank you The bigger thing will be experience, without prior real estate experience your options will be limited.

Newbie question: On the map does limited refer to limited sales > ie SUPER SLOW                            or does limited refer to unable to compare to prior > ie inconclusive  

No, private lenders are typically not licensed loan brokers and as such, they must stay within the state's usury limits for loans.

Have you considered expanding your markets given the limitations on what you are currently finding?

Trulia proves to be quite helpful in determining high crime areas in your city; so that you may avoid investing in such areas.However, the internet has its limitation.

My advice would be to have a banker/broker/loan officer pull her full credit report and take a thorough look at everything causing the low scores.Quick fixes for just score improvement can be having a family member or a partner add you as an "Authorized User" on a credit card with a 30-40% credit balance to credit limit ratio. 

@Jesse Rodriguez the limit of coverage you should decide on depends on your risk tolerance and property characteristics.Risk tolerance Example - If you have an old roof, an Actual Cash Value policy may only cover 50% of the replacement of it. 

I've tried various things: shorter inspection time period (typically it's 10 days here, and if you do a 3 or 5 day inspection time you can be attractive b/c the seller can get it back on market quicker if you find something you don't like during inspection period); non-refundable earnest money (maybe $1000 of money that you will not get back for any reason on your side - not if the seller breaches-- should the offer not go to completion - this shows you are an extremely interested buyer, but you could lose the money, so use cautiously and with the advice of your agent who knows how to correctly write that into the contract); put a limit on the repair request no required by lender - cap it at $0/as-is, or $500; a higher earnest money - like $5000, shows you are serious.

Regardless of your lease your state may limit your charge.  

(ideally 2 triplex or 1 quad & 1 duplex; minimal amount of properties) AND build equity.So my thoughts are, the reason Newark is not best for new investors, more relates to those with limited funds.