I've always masked my quitting spirit as "curiosity" but have realized it's just me being weak when the going gets tough. 16 years ago sitting in an apartment in Roswell, Ga I bought "Real Estate for Dummies", cracked it open, read a few chapters and put it down.

Personally went this route and it has paid me dividends on my own deals knowing what my strengths and weaknesses are in the labor department.

Simply put, another weak report would greatly increase expectations for a 0.50% Fed rate cut whereas a stronger report would all but guarantee a 0.25% cut.

A fantastic deal in a weak neighborhood can still l make you good money. 

Is he paying top dollar in weak markets in order to generate deal flow (to which he then syndicates his entire equity component)?

Applied psychology, networking, salesmanship are important things that do not come naturally to most engineers.The above are generalizations and your milage may vary, but being able to spot your strengths and weaknesses is a good step in the right direction.

One other thing: if there is any weakness in your personal relationship (marriage, union, live-in, whatever), this endeavor will expose it big-time.

In general Central jersey is a weak market, so whenever a deal comes across they go so fast because the demand for deals is so high, but the supply of deals are so LOW! 

Adjustments to this general rule are made for less than stellar credit, weak financials, or lack of experience. 

If you are aggressive, you may not care about any of this, and it may be considered a plus to you.In my opinion, another of their big weaknesses is that they have virtually no skin in the game.