I think they contain solid information and will help lay a good foundation as a beginner (Haha, I'm completely new to real estate as well, btw)I'm also going to be reading the following books, and hopefully I can finish all by the end of this month:1) The ABCs of Property Management2) The Advanced Guide to Real Estate Investing3) Long-Distance Real Estate Investing How to Buy, Rehab, and Manage Out-of-State Rental Properties (this might be the most important one to me personally)4) The Book on Investing in Real Estate with No (and Low) Money DownIn addition to reading, I'm consuming crazy amounts of youtube videos, and I'recommend you do this as well.

I wish you all the success and please don’t hesitate to reach out if I can ever assist or support you in any way.

Start small, be patient, and stay connected with local meetups and online investor communities for support. 

Minor drawbacks, it needs a better phone support system, I use a VOIP.that connects with Zoho and could be better.

I won’t try to tell you what to do other than if there’s certain properties that just consume way more energy you might consider 1031ing them into slightly larger properties where you could get better economies of scale for your time and expenses.

Regular tenants may have more of a support system when they have bad financial luck.

Real estate takes many years to be able to support yourself, and that’s if you do everything right and the cards fall into place.

It would not surprise me if they were acquiring the paper and servicing rights to take an inside line on refi's for these customers if rates decline.Actually CFPB regs may NOT apply if the subject loans are investment or commercial property loans and not SFR owner occupied or consumer loans. 

The amount of reading and information you have to consume to sit for the exam is bonkers. 

You could start with your agent or a local agent who supports investors and could have contacts to refer to you.Lastly, you could consider negotiating with a local PM to take on a hybrid approach to management.