They will ignore upkeep and soak every dime from the property.

This has only fueled the fire even more to get involved, particularly buy n hold passive income properties (would entertain flip to seed income for more rentals) which leads me back to my beginning question. 

I suggest you browse the site here and just invest in your education and soak up everything you can.

He has blogs and quite a few postings I'm sure you can soak in.

I’ve got some seed money put aside for investing and I’m eager to start building a portfolio in the next few months.

Welcome @Koob Moua You can learn a lot from the BP podcasts and forums, so soak in all of the free advice you can from here.

I've also read a couple of real estate investing books to soak in more info.

I have no real estate experience nor have I owned a property, but I am an avid learner and have been soaking up the knowledge that this site has to offer.

Just thought I'd make a quick introduction after lurking here for months soaking in all the great information!

Indulge and soak it all in!