The learning curve for plumbing is a nightmare, you'll spend a lot of trips to the store and get frustrated starting over constantly. 

Hello,New investor here. 25 years old and Ive learned so much in the past year from watching bigger pockets.

I’m a business owner and aspiring real estate investor looking to learn, grow, and connect with like-minded people.

Of course it is very important to do proper due diligence on the investment and the operator.As far as self-directed IRA there are number of companies offering such service, this topic has been discussed here on the forum many times so you should search using this keyword and learn from those discussions.

Lessons learned?

Our meetups are the perfect place to build relationships, exchange insights, and learn from those actively doing deals in the area.

Listening is one of the number one assets, so if theres ways I can contact other real estate investors and learn from them would mean alot.

You are in a great place to learn based on the successes and failures that many have had.  

But, stick around, there is a lot to learn anyway. 

that we’ve learned in our 24 years, managing almost 700 doors across the Metro Detroit area, including almost 100 S8 leases:Class A Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, 3-5 years for positive cashflow, but you get highest relative rent & value appreciation.Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, 5% the more recent norm.Tenant Pool: Majority will have FICO scores of 680+ (roughly 5% probability of default), zero evictions in last 7 years.Class B Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, decent amount of relative rent & value appreciation.Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, 5% should be applied only if proper research done to support.Tenant Pool: Majority will have FICO scores of 620-680 (around 10% probability of default), some blemishes, but should have no evictions in last 5 yearsClass C Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, high cashflow and at the lower end of relative rent & value appreciation.