EDITED
Because half a loaf is better than none… 
Plus there’s location to factor in, I don’t live within 600 miles of my properties; couldn’t do the deal unless I had someone on the ground.
Dave
Also as an individual you can get so many properties that the banks stop lending to you. At that point you may need to restructure, like go into a corporation (which will require 20% down) or partnership so that your credit is saved. Your path to (as Gordon Gecko says being liquid) goes through 3 phases.
Phase 1 dependence (where you are looking to others to bring you deals and financing)
Phase 2 Independence (were you find your own deals and financing)
Phase 3 Interdependence (that is where Donald Trump and Gordon Gecko are)
When you are at interdependence you are as close to limitless as you can get. Remember Doanld Trump did not save up a billion dollars and buy the land under the Empire State building, he structured the deal that acquired that billion dollars. It made him a couple million out of 20 or so million, but it made the other players a lot of money also.
Some say it is good and some say it is bad. I like having partners on certain deals because everyone may have a different strength.
If one person is great at book keeping and marketing and networking, while the other one is great at negotiationg and is good at estimating repairs etc. Then you have the beginning of a good team.
If I could set this up in a perfect world I would have 4 people on my team.
1 that would do all the marketing and book keeping
1 that would do all the title searches and due dillagence
1 that would do all the negotiating with banks and sellers
1 that would do all the estimates and sub out all the work needed to complete the job. Follow up etc.
I think if you had those 4 people and had 25 deals working per month you would be a great success in this business.
I don’t even think i would want to do this alone, what fun would that be ?
I have done it a little simpler. I do all my deals with a partner [not always the same one] I have a LOT of debt so I partner with people who have money. I find the deals, they put up all the money and I over see the WHOLE rehab. I turn around and sell it and we split the profits 50/50. My money people love it because they don’t have to do ANY of the work and they get 50% of the deal. This allows them to do 2,3,4 or more deals at the same time and I get to pay off my debts. Someday I will do them myself, but for now it works out for all involved. Of course it took some time and education to build a relationship with them. Now we all know each other and have a great amount of trust and respect for one another.
By the way I always do a joint venture agreement with them.