I currently own my own sports supplement business and personal train as well. i am getting married in june and have always wanted to invest into real estate. i am tired of trading time for money so starting next week i am only personal training from 530am to noon monday through friday and the rest of time i want to spend learning the game of real estate.

Technology is a great supplement to make life easier for tenants and owners, but I think the more important factor is the people.

Maybe they have substantial savings from an inheritance or settlement and they draw from that to supplement their monthly income? 

My dream is to supplement my current W-2 income with passive real estate income within the next 10 years.  

Things like that." with out writing a lengthy dissertation.If you're seriously considering investing in this area I think you need to do a lot of the general high-level research yourself, and then supplement it with more narrow, specific questions that we locals will be happy to answer.

Do you use someone local to supplement what they can't do live?

Depending on your area of interest there are some great books by J Scott and Brandon Turner that can be purchased on BP or Amazon as a supplement to reading in the forums.

As a supplement to the good info Nicole left1) You don't need to register a DBA with the secretary of state if you're operating in your own name.2) If you have a regular job and Ok credit you may qualify for conventional credit.  

I have money saved in a brokerage account doing okay with some mutual funds, want to start doing REI to supplement income and create possibilities.  

It was in perfect shape for an investor.Also I would not expect that the other tenants will cover the entire mortgage at least when initially purchased,  Their rent may supplement your rent such that you are paying below market rent.