I ended up investing out of state in a more landlord friendly / cost effective market.First thing I'd recommend is figuring out your investing strategy (single family / small multi-family 2-4 units) and attend some local meet ups to network with other investors to learn from their mistakes.

Just don't make the mistake of comparing what someone else profits on a role, to decide whether your compensation is sufficient or not. 

Real estate investing is more about taking actions and learn as much as possible along the way and not repeating your mistakes.

If you own your own home, you might be able to start by STR'ing your own home, making and learning from mistakes and building a track record you can then try to replicate on other properties. 

Eliminate debt, establish a budget, and save.

I see so many new investors that lose thousands, sometimes tens of thousands, every year because they make simple mistakes.

As a newbie, I need someone to guide me from the beginning to try to avoid mistakes and hopefully be very successful.

I think the biggest mistake that people make, is thinking that investing in STR´s is some totally different style of real estate. 

However, we still get beat up on a daily basis over our fees.I left one of the largest PM companies, who had those exact fees, and started my own business with the sole intention of eliminating all of those fees.

Building a strong network is key, and you’re definitely in the right place to connect with experienced investors and learn from their successes (and mistakes!)