I don't know if I would call it a beginners trap as much as a beginners necessity.

Is it worthwhile since having a license is not a necessity for investing?

There are many honorable and hardworking individuals who juggle many balls in the air for themselves, their families, and by necessity, their vendors.Frequently letting your customers know you sincerely appreciate the job they do, and your relationship with them, is among the most satisfying parts of any business.Jeff

I know the power of necessity.

While I completely HATE windows in showers, sometimes they are a necessity and this bathroom was no different, without the window, you couldnt see your hand in front of your face on a bright sunny day and nothing beats natural light.

My question is in regards to factoring in the cost to upgrade a new bathroom even if the bathroom has the basic of basic necessities??

The manager is almost a necessity because there is a lot "babysitting" that is involved.

To make any business bigger then it is you have to hire out the functions that others can do and only partake in the necessities. 

And it's been a good run, but now I'm afraid the bull market is ending--I actually went short on the S&P 500/SPY last month--and I am seeing the necessity of diversification, not just among different equities, but into real estate as well...and of course real estate prices are high right now too...as you may know I am currently working on one property but want to figure out what to do with my remaining cash...tempted to continue to play the stock market because that's all I know, but it may not be the most prudent...I've never sat on cash before (always had money in the market), but it seems that may be smart until assets can be bought for cheaper...P2P lending seems expensive right now too, and I do not have enough cash to do HML...Where do you park your extra cash while waiting for stocks to cheapen and/or real estate to dip again?

But don't get me wrong, I do plenty of commercial loans and having that relationship with banks is a NECESSITY in order to negotiate down rates.