I'm in a different area, but I just paid a plumber ~$200 an hour to do some work....clearly I am in the wrong profession, but I know equipment and skills are needed. 

So there are many more participants at the novice level who may not understand the risk/reward nature of this type of investment. 

At the end of the day, assuming the market at a high-level is strong, you must be able to trust in a strong, local team. 

Either the toilet is leaking below the floor level or there is degraded caulk/grout surrounding the tub/shower/walls.

I was a foster child who put myself through college on my own, and I have relied on some good friends for a place to stay as I grew up, which has motivated me to create a better life for myself.I have done a lot of research on real estate, and from my perspective, it seems as if wholesaling, which I feel my sales skills may help with, would be a good place to start to make some extra money to speed up the investing process.

So great levels of intelligence it does not take. 

They need to fail and learn at a small dollar level.  

Its always best to review your file with an investor friendly mortgage broker like ourselves to see what are your best options in terms of financing your next deal and get a high level understanding on how to enter a property and also exit a property.

In the case of a single family home house hack, say a single level ranch with a daylight basement - it lives and functions kind of like an up-down duplex, but the zoning and property type is 1 unit SFR.

Of course in the JV deals I do where we  come into title I pay tax at the state level if there is tax.