I do plan on going to college and getting a degree in the Stem field but I am wanting to dive in and learn as much as I can right now.

So I ran my little smuggling business, paid $5 chits for 50 cent Doritos, and stashed all the cash in a big manila envelope that I wrote my mother's name and address on (they weren't allowed to look at your mail).

If so, I'm planning on going reserves after, like @David Pere. 

Hello BP panel,I have a question about capital gain taxes -I recently sold my (3) multifamily properties, netting me about $500-$800k.I started with the intention of conducting a 1031 exchange (still ongoing with escrow and exchange accommodator) As I have not been able to find anything appealing in the current market (San Diego CA) I'm tempted in exploring the option of keeping my gains cash and look patiently for an opportunity.However I'd have to pay taxes on my gains -could anyone recommend q strategy or an experienced CPA how can review my case to minimize tax payments.

I'm going to dive in and post on BiggerPockets for the first time, hope it goes over well.When investing in RE the number one thing to do (after due diligence shows it's a profitable investment of course) is make sure your investment is safe and protected from physical damage and potential lawsuits.New Construction is a very different type of risk than an existing property.Instead of property coverage there's a builders risk policy that covers the new structure as its being built, this is pretty similar to a property coverage policy but has a very different price structure as there is only a full building at the end of construction while the risk factor of damage happening due to the ongoing construction is not there on a fully operational building.Then we have the General Liability, the liability due to construction operations is something that is non existent on a regular property and therefore a lot more expensive, there's also a big difference if the Developer hires a fully insured GC or acts as a GC themselves which would make them liable not only as owners but also as the General Contractor responsible for any construction injuries/damages.For a while I thought I didn't need to write about this as obviously anyone in the field knows this already, until I came across a Real Estate Investment firm that develops and operates multiple Multi Family properties that wanted us to give them a quote on a new project,I asked them for prior development policies they had gotten and was shocked to see they were carrying either vacant land GL policies or at best "owners interest" only policies when they were operating as Owner/GC directly hiring all the subcontractors for the job.I did not have an easy time explaining why they needed to be paying a lot more on their GL policies after they had "gotten away" with it for many years but i did succeed and have earned their trust going forward.

As far as taking that leap what worked for me is that I ran the numbers made sure everything made sense and went for it.

@Andrew Zannotti I ran that by him earlier today but he was not interested in owner financing

Area is experiencing major growth, average home sales price $245,000.Not sure of profits on storage building yet but the numbers I ran for rents minus expenses give $241,587.65.

I ran all of the numbers such as repair costs and ARV to determine our purchase price and if the deal would work.

It was a tri plex in Tracy , Ca that was only on market for 37 mins, I ran the numbers and made sure everything made since and put a offer in right away!