New From Mountains of North Carolina

Hi all, I have spent my entire life in human services and social work and to be honest I really don't have anything to show for it except to know that I have made a difference in the lives of many people. I am in my 50's and have not saved anything for retirement. My girlfriend recently bought a house and it put me to shame to think I can't even do that. I have made a lot of mistakes financially and have terrible credit. I want my financial life to be different- to be better. I am willing to do whatever it takes. So with all that being said, I am in the worse possible place in my life financially- no savings, bad credit, no equity, but at least I am debt free. I have a great job (even though we are the lowest paid county in North Carolina) as an ON CALL social worker so I have my daytimes free and work evenings and nights. I also take care of my aged parents.

I have the ability to remodel and fix up homes. I enjoy doing that. As a social worker it is easy to get burned out on being with people and like the escape of home remodeling. So my goal is to purchase a house, do repairs and cosmetic work, and then flip. I am not looking for this get rich quick, it just sounds like fun. So I guess my first step what I am looking for is creative financing. Any thoughts and helps of how any of you got started would be appreciated. I would love to find a mentor. Any Western Carolina mentors would be nice to meet.

Thank you for reading my post.