As the market evolves we've intensified our commitment to helping investors focus only on listings that are eligible for vacation rental usages and either; have exceptional existing production or high potential for rental performance.

I would focus on credit, consider some alternative options to "free your Benjamins" out of your home, or even consider doing a partial sale of your home to give you capital to get back at it!

We’ve worked together for about 2 years now, and he is focused on the operations side of the business.There are many solid sponsors and operators in this asset class, some newer than us, and some older – and quite a bit of new money coming into this space (part of this is where we are in the market cycle, and other asset classes being overpriced like apartment buildings).I’ve personally had several conversations with @Jefferson Lilly (and met him at a conference), and he knows the space well.

So you want to be a landlord/investor focused agent huh?

Make it part of your business model and focus on scaling vs managing.

The best way to connect and learn is to be in rooms where it's going down.In terms of captial your best bet is to focus on a primary income that cash flow sufficiently, saving as much as you can and doing something real estate related so you can get familiar with the industry.

Should I focus on fixing it up and renting it out?

And you can definitely pay off your home faster if you focus on running all of your expenses through it and watch your expenses. 

For my own portfolio I'm focusing on commercial deals and coaching fellow RE investors.

Depends on the focus of the reia.