The key is to establish and adhere to financially sound fundamentals that will see you through an portion of the cycles as they move. 

Globally, everyone's loaded up on cash and looking to take advantage of low rates, so trying to get a piece is gonna be hard.In Charlotte, I've been building a list of small multi rentals with solid fundamentals right outside primary investment areas.

One of the fundamental lessons that is drilled into our heads starting on the very first day of basic training is to never give up.  

For the new property the home value is probably ~$600k, but I'd get it for around $470k (it needs updates, but has enormous square footage and great fundamentals).

In about 3 weeks of part time studies on your own, you can learn real estate as a professional, at least the fundamentals to set you on the professional tack.Fear comes from the unknown, as President Roosevelt  said "all we have to fear, is fear itself".

Just need to learn note fundamentals, the basics of underwriting, risk assessment, collateral assessments, understanding credit issues and secondary guidelines.

For instance, I've talked to one guy in particular from loopnet who advertises 25% cap rate and then on the phone he's sort of like "well.. you know... it's more like 18%"  Don't get me wrong, 18% cap rate is amazing, but why lie about something so fundamental on loopnet then tell me something else on the phone?

In saying that, your first job is to research and know all of these fundamentals.

If you pay attention to the fundamentals, make sure your property cashflowes after ALL expenses and capex reserves and you're in it for the long run, you will do fine. 

Ignoring it and focusing only on metrics like cash on cash will tend to push you towards lower quality neighborhoods with weaker long term supply and demand fundamentals, yet better day one cash flow on paper.