The tax benefits refer to the tax deductions from mortgage interest and property tax.The returns mainly rely on appreciation, and the cash flow only improves in the last few years, also depending on securing the 5% refinance rate.I've learned a lot from this forum, but as I start to operate on my own, I'm still not completely confident.

Learn the basics of what a good deal looks like and how to find them.

With over 25 years in the field, I'm still learning.

I'm obviously biased, but I think working with a broker will speed up your learning curve.If the broker you work with isn't transparent on everything they do with you (not for you), I recommend finding another broker.

This is a great place to learn and further investigate investing in real estate.

I have 8 properties that I have rented through section 8 now and didn't need any additional resources than the one freely available to he public from the housing authorities.

Not sure how important that is, but we put it into our spreadsheet… trying to learn and figure out our best move!

One of the constants that I still see from when I first started on BP in early 2016 is the willingness of experienced ( some on this very thread ) folks in different aspects of real estate to try and help newbies and others with advice and perspective.I think it really is a testament to the fact that even though the investing environment has undergone many changes over those years the willingness to continue to help others has not changed.It helped me tremendously when I had to crash course on small MF ownership and I am grateful to all who helped with posts that they didn't even know that I had read and learned from.And yes the search function remains fairly useless and unchanged in that regard since then to the detriment of us all.

Quote from @Mikal Toliver: It’s an exciting time go learn, understand, and practice real estate estate investing.

This sounds like an incredible learning experience!