Opening the book of real estate

[Ryan Arbeiter]

Hello, my name is Ryan. I am 22. I live in Croydon, near Philadelphia. In April of this year I decided to start my own landscaping/hardscaping practice.  I’m just starting out with learning about real estate, specifically through podcasts. They insist to ask questions on here, so why not.  I will be ordering a few books soon. The concepts of house hacking and flipping seem like the most realistic/doable options in this area/for my situation.

Sometimes I feel like i have too many questions to ask about real estate.  

Is it smart to take a 1-2 year self-education period before diving into the market?

Is it smart to make sure to dedicate consistent $ to a Roth IRA before investing in real estate, or is it better to put all of that money into the RE market to get started?