Knowledge, experience, ability.  

As a side note, and maybe others will recommend this as well, obtain your real estate license instead if you are interested in pursuing sales full-time.

I love the tools and knowledge available here and this is the first place I refer people to when they ask about investing!

I appreciate you all and i look forward to gaining knowledge and sharing as well

@Wells H. you can spend DAYS driving through Detroit!

We have final site compliance plans in Columbus Ohio for large development projects and the only people that can do them are either an architect or a civil engineer. an architect is more versatile but the real knowledge is a civil engineer but you need to be able to stamp it for accuracy and you are putting your professional experience on the line. it has nothing to do with zoning. civil engineers don't really help with zoning that would be done by an entitlement group or zoning attorney. degree is probably mandatory before you can become a professional engineer but yes there is incredible demand for those services in our market. for subdivision development as well this is amazing skillset to have.  

Make sure your first rental cash flows well by running the numbers as if you were buying it today.

My knowledge in that area is virtually non-existent.

There were two section 8 tenants here as well, navigating those programs can be a great way to increase cashflow if you tenant screen properly.

I have some cash, but likely not enough to fund a purchase without bank financing, and especially not when factoring extensive rehab costs into the equation (may need to up my knowledge on creative financing to bridge this).