There are countless topics, and forums at your disposal here, it can be a bit overwhelming.

I've read countless posts and blog articles on BP regarding this topic but any advice you could impart for a beginner starting out would be great.

my rule, others may say otherwise but I'm not in the volume game, real estate is my current Business, and I prefer quality over quantity.....just fits my style best.

Or they expect you to make countless ridiculous offers, which hurts our credibility with other agents the next time an offer of ours comes over their desk.

It's more than a math game, really.

I've noticed some rentals pop up on zillow that were way way way higher than what I was seeing in cross reference, I'd suspect someone was trying to manipulate the local data, I only noticed it by luck and spend countless hours on various sites.

The Tenant now has the resolve to fall down the stairs and test exactly how strong your lease and insurance is when they claim the landlord's at fault, or disable the fire alarms claiming they haven't worked in months and you did nothing about it, regardless of what your lease says as to who is responsible for maintaining them, god forbid they start an 'accidental' fire and now your insurer is looking to you as to why the smoke alarm was disconnected not wanting to pay out; you may get some of your $ back out after countless court sessions, time wasted and $$$$ for your lawyers to justify it all for you and set it straight, completely cutting hard into whatever investment strategy you may have had. 4 - Just because you put it in a lease, review it with them, have them sign it, have them take a picture with it, get their DNA on it... does NOT make it legal.

It take about an hour, but that 1 hour saves countless others throughout their tenancy.  

The source may be free (BP) or the source may cost money (snap or Than or countless others), but the person seeking the knowledge must actually take the time to absorb, process and act on it.Happy Learning!

Over the last few months we have listened to/read countless podcasts and articles to gain a better understanding of real estate investing as a whole.