I come from New Zealand and am looking to get involved in some aspect of real estate investment.

In the GFC, in New Zealand where I am from, virtually every non bank lender went under, failed completely.

As far as finding a realtor...I'd recommend using BP to get that reference and not use any of the online sites for that reference...especially if you're investing from New Zealand. 

I have started reading The Book on Rental Property Investing and so far I have never enjoyed reading a book in my life to this extent.I just wanted to introduce myself to the community and wanted to ask you guys how I should start investing in general in New Zealand as I am a complete noob.

And regarding your comment that was implying that houses can’t appreciate much more, just look at Canada, the UK and New Zealand housing markets.

My wife and I are from Western Ohio, but we are currently located in Auckland, New Zealand for my job (Software Engineer).My wife and I have had one adventure in real estate, where we purchased our first house out of college for $46k, rehabbed it over 5 years, and then sold it for $180k, profiting approximately $60k.

But go to New Zealand or Australia they hate people who are successful.

In my country (New Zealand) there are 12,000 Real Estate Agents and only 7500 houses sold this year which does worry me as they are paid through commission.

It had been about 15 years since I flipped a house but a deal came up that was too good to pass up on. A tenant had damaged it and left a few holes in walls, removed a toilet pan (?) and the garden was messed up by a ...

Don't invest in "education"- All of the good info is out there for free, and digging for it will take less time then a lot of programs.Australia has a great market, New Zealand as well.