@Trevor Turner It's great to hear you and your wife are going to take the plunge into REI. Many of the above comments are correct. Beyond continuing your REI education (podcasts, BP, books, etc) there are 3 main areas of focus: Lending, Entity structure, and the Real Estate itself. I highly suggest finding someone in each area to assist. A great lender can save you money time and hassle before getting to the closing table. He can also provide suggestions of how to repair any credit issues to try and bump those scores to the next tier. An investor-friendly realtor learns their clients formulas and strategies and can save time weeding through properties that don't meet their investing formula of choice. An investor friendly agent is not afraid to put in multiple offers until their clients gets a good deal, provide advice when requested, as well as provide clients with up to the minute deals. Then of course your tax/accounting guy can save you thousands.
