Moreover, the discipline required to save for a large down payment often reflects better financial management skills.

These are very beneficial investing skills. 

Lastly ,  Based on my experience . if you are hitting up 100 pips and maybe contacting 50 or 30 , maybe the approach and sales skills might need to be tune out..     

In a perfect world, your primary would be paid off and the only HELOC on it would be for peronsal emergency issues - job loss, medical, etc.Recommend you find a lender that finances rentals, get a refinance going, then watch mortgage rates for the next dip to lock in a decent rate and close.

This is something I have done on my free time to demonstrate to employers my knowledge and skills with applications like Tableau and SQL coding.

These skills are often honed over time, much like an athlete's development.Moreover, context is key.

SKILLS is the #1 "hedge" against unemployment.

I feel with my Engineering and MBA background, this is something that really suits my skill-set and something I can sink my teeth into.

I am looking for an experienced partner/mentor skilled in small starter homes, since I want that to be my main focus to start with.

@Kevin Phu I am an Aegis Fire controlman, moving towards working in the medical field fixing linear accelerators for Varian.