But by putting in the work myself and leveraging my skills, I was able to save a lot on labor costs.

For active investing it is also helpful to have some type of advantage that sets you apart from other investors - that could be construction or rehab skills, market knowledge or anything else that gives you an edge.I was an active investor and didn't really have any of those skills.  

---Investors always compare/hire people of Craigslist that are uninsured, questionable skills, are unreliable and offer no warranties.

But if you feel like you can learn the same skills on your own through experience and other resources, saving that extra tuition for your first investment might be the better move.

They preach relationship building with agents but not everyone has skills to do that. sounds like overpromise under deliver on the "Skill" side

Along the way I've learned a lot of trade skills as well which goes a long way helping to maintain assets. 

The person worked for H&R Block, now works for TurboTax Live and is being honest about their skills: NOT QUALIFIED.

For management, self-managing saves costs and teaches valuable skills, but a property manager is essential for out-of-state properties or scaling your portfolio.

Also, there’s much to delve into on of those scenarios, like what type of cashflow or investment do you want, etc. residential, multi-res, small multi-res, commercial, industrial, etc.There seems to be fewer deals around these days and this typically benefits the more experienced and skilled investors but there are always multiple investors that get “tripped-up” in these markets due to them relying on recent “fortunate” market circumstances only to realize the markets cycle and they weren’t prepared or didn’t underwrite properly to account for unforeseen potential.There are more considerations, but this is a start.

I am sure working for the Home Vestors Franchise gave you a lot of tools/skills on getting undervalued properties.