In all my research I've also found out about wholesaling which sounds great in theory but then I have to deal with hard money or private money and I don't know if that's smart as a first time investor idk I just want to make sure I'm making a "good" first deal that will help me into the steps of financial freedom any and all advice is appreciated.

There is also another big exception that I don't think was mentioned in this thread (but it was in Michael's linked thread), you don't have to report payments that were made by credit card or certain other payment methods. 

Hey Hogan,Welcome to the REI world and congrats on getting your ducks lined up to take the next step.

If house-hacking-as-the-first-step-to-portfolio-building is your jam, I'd love to connect,Thank you,Matt

I’m a small property owner and learned this one the hard way.I've used Zillow and it's been great for getting eyes on my listings, but I’ve stopped trusting it as a final screening step.

We are late in the game for this years sale, but I am also thinking the bank may step in and pay the lien on the residence, allowing time for discussions with the Owner. 

Does this approach make sense as a first step for us?

All leads have a scheduled follow up and next step.

Hey everyone , I'm just doing some yearly cleaning and realizing I'm paying $400 a year for BP and the only thing i still use from when i signed up is rent redi. that's $140 a year. so I'm trying to cancel membership BUT I don't see anything to cancel just change plans or update payment method.

If you have strong income and at least two years in business, your first step should be to see how you actually qualify on a conventional loan by running your numbers through Fannie Mae’s income calculator at https://singlefamily.fanniemae.com/applications-technology/income-calculator, which is exactly what Fannie and Freddie lenders rely on.