not really, but it's fun and having a good grasp of finances can only help.

Once you grasp the concept then look on BP for others who do private lending and seek individual advice as to their risk/reward process.Risk is a very personal thing.

I have several books and am beginning to grasp an idea of what I am going to do.

It sounds like you have a pretty firm grasp of what you are looking for, and a great background to get started.

I feel like I have a good grasp on setting up the different accounts and inputting the expenses.If I'm understanding you correctly you have to manually input the expenses (principle, interest, escrow) every month.

Most "rules" are written by people who either have something to gain by the rule - money, notoriety, information, whatever - or really don't have a firm grasp on the situation and thus are coming up with rules that make no sense for most people. 

I am still grasping how crowdfunding or general deal making  works as well so do people create company and then just invest in a property.

I'd think that either they don't have a good grasp of the issue, or perhaps it wasn't explained well enough to them?

I have to scratch my head a little when folks don't quite seem to grasp what you're talking about here, and some simply overcomplicate things.

As long as you have a good grasp of that, you will know which ones make sense and which are not in the majority of the time.