Additionally, a property with a pool and a spacious backyard is a huge draw, as guests love the idea of relaxing by the pool and hanging out outside enjoying the fresh air.

Hang in there!

@Frank Patalano Thanks for hanging in there and answering all these comments!

Any advice is greatly appreciated :)Get to know one developer socially that you get along with well.Share your interest in the business.Seriously, meet for a coffee seems really (W2)....probably isn't the best thing.If you are (W2) your wage slave hours might conflict with the business hours of your intended teacher.But seriously, meet for a coffee with your carpenter, landscaper and close friends.I think the best way to learn is to hang out together as friends with a mutual interest, but if you are (W2)-ing all day...that leaves no hang out time.Go to a 2.5 hour lunch on a moments notice, hang out together in the office, go look at sites together....What is a finance professional--a lender, a CFO, an accountant, a spreadsheet guy running calcs, a statistician, etc???

"Ready" is a subjective term, but you can hang out on these forums, meeting agents, lenders, other investors, and anybody else you care to talk with for 1,000 hours.

And, you can't join the board without hanging your license first.

Lots of NY locals hang out there and should have some good recommendations. 

Hanging my license with a boutique real estate office that would embrace real estate investing and allow me to wholesale would be ideal. 

Or we would have investor meetings in the evening that I would give a presentation of the status of the project and I would have 20 to 30 couples but even with that they wanted the GP there.. and the GP left me hanging one night and the investors went bat sheeet crazy.. there I was in the firing line..I know that was then and now is now and its not how business is done anymore..

So in theory it can't be a LTR if we move out someday, but a lease naming a tenant as "manager" probably gets around that.I've thought a bunch about how to improve the property's cash flow, and there's lots of marketing and operational low-hanging fruit before we get to capital improvements.