I plan on keeping myself immersed in the various literatures out there on this topic.

It would also be more convenient to learn, since it's an immersive type of learning experience I've heard.

Study your market, attend open houses, immerse yourself as much as you can.

I have been immersing myself in as much investing material as possible since finding BP.

I would say, immerse yourself in everything real estate, from listening to pod casts, reading blogs, books, searching the net, etc.

At first, I was hesitant about the location, but after culturally immersing myself it was not as things appeared.

But I will not castigate you since you may not not about this guru stuff.....with $7k, you could well be on your way to acquiring your first investment property....That said, there are tons of materials on this site to educate and equip you for the journey ahead.Get into the Eductation section, immerse yourself in the podcasts, webiners, forums.....learn all you can and ask questions.....Folks in this site are wonderful and they love to help and share information..just ask....On a good note, do not be discouraged; consider the $8k a part of the lesson learned on your way to success......one day, you will tell the success story; lookd back and thank God you are on this site....my one cent..

You would need to do some serious hustling - calling commercial brokers, networking with commercial lenders, investors, brokers, researching markets, trends, just immerse yourself into that world to get the best deals  It's not a hobby and if treated as such,  you won't get far. 

🎉I recently made the leap to a pro membership here as I've been immersed in the complexities of real estate number crunching.

I don't have the capital I need to start, but I am looking into creative financing.Moreover, I'm immersing myself in real estate books like Rental Property Investing, Invest w/ no money or little money down, and Long-distance Real Estate Investing, and also listening to "Biggerpockets" podcast during my lengthly commute to work.