I am using the immersion approach to reacquaint myself with the business and the current local market.

Therefore, I would not be able to fully serve a client's interests  better than an agent who is immersed in the specific market daily. 

When you look at highly successful national speakers like Wendy Patton, Don Derosa, and Pete Youngs, these individuals ALL credit their success to financial hardship that made them want to change their situations and immersion in home study courses.The 'wholesaler' who is the 'founder' of the 'wholesale company' president of these companies, CFO/CEO etc. etc., well, that's lots of titles for someone if they own less than 4 houses.

So, I started down the path of learning about REI, and have been immersing myself in it for the last couple months.  

I've been reading as many books and listening to as many podcasts to immerse myself in the culture.

If you do not have enough construction knowledge to manage a project, you expose yourself to precisely the kind of game-playing you encountered here - where it sounds like you were charged separately for each task that is involved in a simple window replacement and that in the normal course of things should have been included in the quoted price.  

Just immerse yourself in it and try to find what works for you.The ultimate beginners guide is tremendous but i think my favorite resource are the BP podcasts!

I never immerse myself in anything so much that I become an expert but I reinforce my jack of all trades mentality. 

Investing is my primary goal, too, and I think that immersing myself in real estate, meeting others who are passionate about real estate and especially other investors will be a good thing.

Hi BPer's,I'm relatively new to BP, but I have become immersed in its wealth of knowledge.