I tend to do a quick dirty look at a building like JW with price per door, but after that sniff test, I quickly like to understand $Cost/SF and $rent/SF.The way I look at a single family, 2-4 units, or a 20 unit is all different, but the end result is still ROI or IRR (over time). 

then you take the state test and the federal test to get your NMLS registration..

Oregon also requires any person or entity that is flipping homes even one home to have a developers license there is no test for it just need and pay the fee..

I generally agree that buying SFH as first investment is an easy way to test the waters; however, if you’re set on REI I suggest buying a duplex or quad.

For example, if the area is rural you might wish to have the house inspected, the well tested, and the septic system inspected by separate services.

Quote from @Joseph Bushnell: I'm testing out the idea of building a data center and I was wondering if anybody has heard of owning the building and having a third party operate the data center itself.  

You need to always be changing with the market, testing and poking to see what marketing works better and what does not work at all. 

Man I hope you are popping bottles.

Additionally, don’t overlook the opportunity cost of pulling money from your 401k—those funds could have been compounding in the market.I’d also suggest stress testing your ROI by running scenarios with higher expenses or lower rents to see how resilient the investment is.

and usually take the state test to get the license and skip the federal part of the test ..