But if anyone would like to share their perspective on the social skills of one in real estate, I would appreciate it.

Thats where the skill comes in.

if not, that's a good way to go.Offer your time / skills / credit?

Check out the meetups on Meetup.com for a great place to meet and network with more people in the RE world from Sacramento (if you haven't already).Also, way to go on your photography skills, it's definitely an art to do well!

Vital .

Great job on doing your research, build your skills but don't get stuck always looking at deals and not end up doing one.  

Unfortunately for most people, time or the necessary skills are not what we have, and thus full time flippers who have the experience and the team would generally prefer the wholesale deal over the MLS one.

My background is in international logistics and I believed I could apply that set of skills to the project management side of flipping  a home.

The main thing is to know that the two options you present offer completely different levels of time, effort, skill level, and risk.

I find it to be a logical transfer of skills and knowledge, have you found that to be the case or has it been an equally challenging approach to investing?