Every journey is different but there are HUGE take-aways with the traditional work experience.With your EE background if you get more into the capital projects side of things (energy, etc) rather than small circuits, I found that experience to be very transferable and now use my engineering PE license quite a bit to take on value add projects and draw out designs (I now do structural design work in addition to EE work). 

@Alana Nevares If the unit is undergoing a major rehab, you should have an electrician in to see what new and upgrades circuits are needed.

. - How much money do you have to start - this isn’t a deal breaker for a particular asset class, but it can make it more challenging.

The property looks otherwise very attractive but we're wondering if septic could be a deal-breaker.

Skin in the game keeps us in when it gets tough.I didn't pay a trainer 1 on 1 but definitely utilized the Body Pump group classes 3x per week and small group HIIT ( high intensity interval training) circuits when I could. 

It is not necessarily a deal breaker, but you should know in advance.  

Only problem is that Unit 1 and Unit 2 are on the same electric meter and breaker panel. 

If you ask them to do it they may just turn off all the breakers which could cause problems in the house.

Hard to avoid cast iron drain pipes, not a deal breaker for me.

So losing money is not a deal-breaker, but dig further into the specific circumstances or mistakes they might have made that resulted in the loss.