I am actually studying to be a financial planner and this is what I have learned.

I am a mother of three living in San Diego and am ready to start my path to financial freedom.

Suffice it to say, between this experience and another one I did simultaneously in another city, I have paid a whole lot of dumb tax...and even more financial “tax” in the form of losses.  

At the meetup there was a speaker who was talking about his success to financial independent and when he went through his list of rentals he bought over the years it left me with a lot of questions. 1: Most of his rentals he bought in B+ to A area's in the 300-450k range in Florida.2: His numbers just didnt make sense, one deal he posted it showed literally like a +$5/month cashflow only....So afterwards i started to talk to him more and he mentioned that he is not the type that invest in cashflow, he is a equity investor... intrigued me so i asked more questions and basically he went on to explain to me that he buys properties that need a little bit of work, but have built in equity in the deal, but he has 4 main rules he goes by... 1: If the Roof is greater than 10 years, he always puts a reduction in his offer for a replacement roof.2: If the A/C is older than 5 years, he always puts a reduction in his offer for a replacement a/c.3: If the house is older than 30yrs old, he always puts 10-15k reduction in his offer for a water line replacement.4: He refuses to buy houses with pools....Anyways after a bit of talking he explained to me that he buys larger 300-450k houses, because most investors are educated to not buy them, so there is a lot of room to wiggle on the deals due to lack of competition on offers and most people in that price range are easily able to be purchased with a few % out of the deal to skip agent commisions..Example he gave me, he recently bought a 455k deal for 405k, but the ARV 535k, because he talked them down in needing a new roof, and a/c and offered to pay cash instead of going through an agent if he would drop 4% off the price for that... 

Others opinion may not be relavent to you current financial siduation.

I would prefer to lend at a slightly lower rate to an experienced and successful flipper with strong financials verses someone who just started out in real estate.

Some updates after checking options with lender - it turns out that mortgages with high down payment are "frowned upon" (from financial perspective), so the bottom line was that a 15y+50%dp get about the same interest as 30y+25%dp(!)

Bigger Pockets is by far the most dialed-in, pragmatic platform for people looking for financial freedom.

By the looks of it, I think I'm gonna stick with REI though :) Thank you BP for all of your insightful knowledge and showing me the path towards financial freedom! 

I'd like to work with you if you're willing to help me.If there aren't any deaf BiggerPockets Members....is there anyone out there who would work WITH me to start my path to financial freedom?