I've been in the CRM business for years and real estate investor since 2003. 

They’re great for trends, but digging deeper into local government or real estate associations will give you the most accurate picture.

If this is for real, I strongly suspect you'll need to be an accredited investor.

A 1031 exchange allows you to defer taxes by exchanging real property held for productive use in a trade or business or for investment for other real property of like kind, which is also to be held for similar purposes.

Ultimately responsibly using leverage (both equity and debt), implementing systems and buying good assets with realizable equity  is how you scale while operating a sustainable real estate business.

Real estate is not my of my knowledge base at all but I want to start working on building passive income now (I’m 44). 

I found this property through my network of local real estate professionals.

The Creative Investor Meetup is designed for beginning to advanced investors who would like additional strategies when constructing deals.All aspects of real estate investing will be covered including (but not limited to) - Wholesaling, Flipping, Buy and Hold and Commercial with an emphasis on Creative Financing.

But I agree with what you wrote Real Estate is ever evolving..

Population decline has slowed, and key neighborhoods are seeing real growth.