Insurance companies make money on their policies, so that fundamentally says the bet you make (your premium) is more then the expectation value of a claim.

good question @Benjamin Kelley and, like @Ned Carey I won't give you a straight answer because it depends on your risk tolerance, knowledge and other factors such as your cash reserves, mentorship access to help you with your 1st deal, the deal fundamentals and many other things.

The rational part of me is saying not to buy - the fundamentals are not all there.

I figured this would be a good step to take to learn the fundamentals of real estate and hopefully make some contacts!

I haven't dabbled to much in hard money as the ones around my area (Southeast Virginia) want too much paperwork and are in my mind too much of a hassle to deal with (eg. draw payments, weekly progress inspections, control of fundamental rehab decisions, etc.).

It takes a little bit of work to get up to speed, but then you end up learning some fundamental accounting principles.

Fundamentals are one thing, but I need to peel back the covers and see what they're up to before entertaining buying a position.

Long story long, I have an EXTREME PASSION for real estate and only a basic understanding of RE fundamentals, not much more though than the average investor.How does a guy like me develop a professional real estate career to learn/earn/and return like so many veterans on this site? 

Lack of experience and market fundamentals are two of the biggest risks.

Shake-out of tech companies without fundamentals.