One last point ... your story also illustrates how much is learned by actually DOING a project. 

I cannot even come close to illustrating the task it was to track these guys down over the phone, in person, etc.

It's written well and simply illustrated. 

Here is an interesting article with a really cool graphic illustrating Charlotte's projected growth through 2025. 

To illustrate - I live in a large apartment building in NYC, where the high-end and luxury sectors are massively overbuilt.

We are conditioned to understand concepts if there is a 2:00 video that illustrates the idea with friendly images and that generic guitar strumming in the background. 

Well - this pretty well illustrates the real world.  

He then sells the house for the $100k it's worth, and makes a profit of $23k.All of the above is an oversimplification for illustrative purposes.

My confusion can be further illustrated by this example: I have met property managers here in my hometown who practice without licensing and manage hundreds of units.As much as I'm willing to do the work required to achieve my goal, if there is a way to avoid having to get my sales/provisional real estate license, then practice under a broker for two years before finally becoming a legal property manager, then I would like to take the more expedient route.I appreciate everyone's time.

This process is illustrated below.