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. 

I have a full time job and I am looking to use REI as a tool to supplement retirement in 10-15 years.

My goals in real estate is for it to supplement if not replace my current income.

I am new to real estate investing, my only real estate experience is that I bought my first house about a year ago and I currently rent out some of the rooms to make some supplemental income.

On my Federal tax it is filed as a schedule E form 1040 (supplemental income and loss).