I am eager to learn the in's and out's of Charlotte residential real estate market as well as gain some experience flipping houses while turning a healthy profit for myself and investors. 

Holding an asset long term... well people have a lot of finance talk about appreciation, unrealized gains, equity.. a lot of that is true and valid.

Visit the property and learn about various renovation stages, gain insights from our experienced investors / speaker, and learn strategies for evaluating deals, managing budgets, and maximizing ROI.What to expect:Property walkthroughsReview before photos and discuss transformation plansDive into real deal numbers—costs, profits, and challengesNetworking with industry prosOpen Q&A session to ask anything about the process

If anything, at least wait a year so you don't pay short-term capital gains on the sale of the property.I need to find some more deals like that here in Chicago...where in Houston was this property?

I gained equity in the property, and I got higher rents which lowered my living expenses while living there.

I'm a newbie tooSelf education through books is a conversation between the author (mentor) and you.You'll gain knowledge, connections etc but it takes timeAttending meetups, listening to Youtube videos on subject matter further broadens knowledge base

My advice would be to start small with your first deals to gain experience before scaling up.

I would think with the HELOC, I could run with that until I can do a refi and with the interest rates starting to come down, there should be some gains to be made and I can repay the HELOC in short term. 

We are definitely dependent on that population and job growth to eventually gain some profit spread.

If winds are 100 mph then you lose air support while embers gain massive trajectory.