In addition to anything and everything real estate, I would recommend books on self-improvement, discipline, focus, sales, etc. 

You should invest from a foundation of strong financial discipline.

You need to stay disciplined, you cannot fish for a bottom.

Best of luck, it will take a lot of discipline.

IMO, you want to buy and hold in the AV after a crash ... feel free to flip there in the meantime if you are disciplined about your margins and timeline.So, there you go Alex J, an investor with 15 years of direct experience in the exact markets you are referring to ...

I'm 25 years old & I've managed to become debt free & save a little over 30k, simply by having the discipline to follow a budget, not making impulse purchases, and by cutting down my bills and saving a little money here & there; whether that's collecting all that pesky pocket change over the years, to seizing small money making opportunities on the side .

Find a couple of top brokers in each of those disciplines and learn from them about what they do.  

@Tom States , I would recommend that you consider NOT setting up a check book llc but instead use a Trust Company like Equity Trust since you do not have the demonstrated discipline to slow down enough to "follow the rules".

With a single account, you have to be disciplined enough to remember that $10,000 is actually $5,000 of CAPEX savings, $2,000 for vacancy reserves, and $3,000 of free cash to re-invest... and not go spend the entire $10k leaving yourself reserveless. 

Hi @Curtis Curley I really like your discipline and where you're heading mentally to get yourself financially free.