That way, no one is stepping on toes.

I look forward to making some new friends, some mistakes, and hopefully enough money to pay off my gargantuan student loans :-)Feel free to stop by and introduce yourself and learn how to dip my toe into the real estate pool.

While this may lower your return, if you're feeling shakey, this can help you cautiously dip your toe in and mitigate risk of loss while you are learning. 

I think one of the keys to further improvement will be bringing in some decent stores to replace the eye-sores that exist now and building a decent grocery store (which the neighborhood is currently working with the city to do, they have a lot picked and everything).That said, @Bill S. has a great point: "right now it is hard to beat selling outright".

You can get some good deals but the top 3 downsides are : 1) you have to buy them without seeing the inside of them, there are ways to get a peak inside if you are thinking on your toes. 2) it is not as simple as bringing money and bidding, there are many ways to get screwed and in a few cases even if you do your homework "IT"can happen so preparation, due diligence and understanding the process /risk are critical3) even if you can find a free and cleAr deal and you are pumped up to capitalize on the upside you see THEN someone pays a ridiculous amount for the property, which happens all the time.

I actually dipped my toes into the stock market to accomplish my goals, but I am a worker and a do-er I like to be active and I like the idea of a more "hands-on" method of building wealth.

It doesn't exist.It's a shark tank out there and there's a reason that almost 90% of new agents are toes up in the parking lot within their first 5 years in the business.So as you go into this business, go in with your eyes wide open. 

I am also new here and dipping my toes into this NWI market.

I have been a lurker on this page, as well as other REI pages for a while, but now that I don't have the financial liability of college over my head I'm hoping to start dipping my toes into REI.

I've been sore all day...