Just enough so I know and can reconcile my books later.

Purchase price: $8,000 Cash invested: $20,000 In 2013, I decided to put much of what I had learned from books into action by purchasing a two-bedroom home—not as a traditional investment property, but as a home for my mother.

I have no prior investment experience but after living in Paraguay, and reading some books about real estate investments, I think I'm ready to buy my first property.

They seem to lack substance listening to their initial information.I liked Mark Podolsky but I was not a fan of his model. 

You should start getting bookings almost immediately. 

They had an incredible view, which attracted a ton of weekend bookings.

many houses in the midwest, for example, are very old and need major rehabs.i personally think out of state investing is more difficult than advertised, and much more difficult in the current investing environment, with: prices high; interest rates high; tremendous demand for inventory, by both investors and retail buyers; and good PMs, contractors, etc. booked up.here's a really thoughtful thread with the experience of another CA investor and lots of different responses:https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/12/topics/1215726-break...and here are some threads about how it can very easily go wrong:https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/48/topics/1159104-overl...https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/963/topics/1195280-expe...https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/48/topics/1160450-run-i...https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/48/topics/1137397-balti...finally, you also said you "don't have a lot of money to start with." 

There is a book in the library called "Low (and no) Money Down" that discusses the various methods of financing purchases.

Then you can read a more in-depth book like The Book On Rental Property Investing by Brandon Turner or The Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing by Spencer Strauss.2.

The other book you mentioned caters more to that audience and gets people hooked on the idea that they can invest in real estate with no money and then teaches them how in subsequent books.