New, motivated to do real estate

[Luis Antonio Sanabria Cruz]

Hey everyone, I got directed here by a retired co-worker in the military. I am still in the military 9 years in, currently 29. My first interaction into real estate was with a different co-worker took me to one of those 2 hour workshops, and he asked me to help him with some manual work in his first flip. He managed to fix and sell, and then his second house he extended it to work on it together with me. I had some capital so I thought why not? So I did, although I got into it, I did not get much hands on in the project as I wanted to. My wife gave birth, and I wanted to help around the house as much as I could, and also the military is quite jealous when giving us off time. So the only times I managed to be there for some of the work, equipment purchasing and some inspections. Now the time I was there present I felt like there was a lot of wasted time, and chasing people down as well as some resources wasted due to poor planning. Now I ask is this a common thing? Is there any general guideline or checklist to follow? Even after the house sold I felt like it was more trouble than the winnings I got from it. Now I am motivated to put the work in whenever possible, and I also have family members that live near me willing to help and work as well so that is a plus for me, or so I consider it to be.

I am currently about to get into the next property with the same co-worker, I have my reservations on how this one will go, but I dont want to stay idle with money in the bank.

I am currently married with a 2 month old. Living in my first home in San Antonio, TX. I have quite a bit sum saved up for investing, I am currently aware of the different strategies out there, and eventually I want to go from flipping, and whatever is generated there put it into rental properties. Any advice out there for this rookie is greatly appreciated. I am always researching and reading, I want to learn as much as possible in this business.