I can't believe people don't let you come to REIA meetings with him.Day to day it is basically impossible to get anything done when he is awake, and then you have the guilt of not being present when he needs your attention.What I did was when he was awake it was his time, and when he was asleep it was my time to work.

This is a very basic 101 level trick approach (not even a trick)...One of my first "doing God's work" refinances when I was fresh off of the Loan Officer Assembly Line was a dude that went $80k (or some crazy number) in debt taking care of his dying mother.

If the property is in San Antonio, there are some local people that will do a basic inspection for minimal cost.

You need to see the house so you can do a repair estimate.I had been learning the basics for quite some time and recently decided to get my feet wet and just do it.

Those are some basic things that I experienced.

Use the search feature and you can see the same basic ideas posted over the past 2-3 years.

Basically, what you are looking for are houses that are typically not represented by Realtors.  

What contracts are required and What are the basics of the contracts that need to be written up?

That being said, there's nothing wrong with putting a big sign in the yard that gives some basic information on the home and flip and let's people know it will be coming on the market soon, and getting the word out through other avenues. 

I'm basically trying to look over tons and tons of properties in preparation for going in with a couple partners in the next year or so.