@Michael Quarles,Thank you for sharing.I consider the fundamentals of the message could be very useful to a successful real estate career.

He talked about the fundamentals of savings, mutual funds, and other stuff.

There are many great pieces out there to study that teach fundamental concepts that are applicable to any industry.  

If you believe that real estate agents are fundamentally the cause of this issue, what has changed in the realtor industry in that time period to set off this chain of events?

"Very nice upgrades" won't make up for fundamental problems like a bad roof and bad siding.

Don't use any of your own cash or credit until you know what the heck you are doingWhile I can certainly appreciate the ability to do deals without your own credit or cash, I would suggest that newbies take caution with this advice, in fact, other than using partnerships, I believe it is for the advanced investor, not the beginner.If you use OPM (other people's money) and credit as a newbie, and then lose some, most, or all of it, you will kill your rep, your ego, and if borrwed from the wrong person, yourself.It is important to understand the fundamentals of your strategy and how to properly execute them to avoid losing your money or that of OPM.

We have record low unemployment, an influx of Chinese and international buyers, 40K homeless (the population of a small city unto itself), overcrowding and a challenging bureaucratic building process that inhibits developers from building fast enough to meet demand.I caution against relying on "gut" or "speculative" opinion-based outlooks and stick to the fundamentals.

You want to diversify your investments and are going to pick individual companies you truly understand, at a fundamental level, and are going to buy shares of those companies. 

That ship has sailed and the market is in the early stages of fundamentally changing.

Whether you choose to do REI or own a pizza place, you need to understand basic business fundamentals to be successful, such as cash flow, sales, and accounting.