It's easy to obtain, costs very little, and doesn't require extra, on-going effort to maintain.

It can be hard to say what exactly a good/bad deal is...I also think it can be very easy to get caught up buying RE - when that may not be the best option.

It's pretty easy to see that real estate proces peaked around 2007-2008 and then crashed during the Great Recession.Around 2011-2012 prices started to recover and got back to their pre-Crash highs around 2015-2016, but really 2018-2019 when adjusted.So, why are newbies reading books written BEFORE 2019 and thinking that you can still successfully invest using the EXACT advice in these relatively "old" books?

You can beat that negative cashflow easy.

For me, it was easy.

There's no real hard and fast way or only 1 way or doing your first 2 points. your subject line suggests you're not looking to go to a large shop like a JLL or a CBRE which honestly I don't blame you those offices are usually pretty bloated.As far as monthly costs, if you are going to individually get a costar or other such license you are probably looking at $500-$1000 a month pretty easy in overhead once you have office dues, mls dues, marketing, etc. 

Once you do, then you can verify if it's hard or easy to flip there.Couple questions I would be asking, how long does the permit process take.

As mentioned above it there are dozens if not a hundred+ small items that are easy to forget that guests will expect you to have (can opener, wine opener, oven mitts etc) 

A handy search bar in the upper right makes it easy to find previous discussions, blogs, podcasts, and other resources.

If you have a landlord policy, that's an easy way to get flagged by your lender.