It can be difficult to switch gears sometimes, & be “unproductive” playing with the kids....I try to keep in mind the quote (which I’m paraphrasing) “don’t be so busy making a living that you forget to make a life”.

This is our time to be silly, catch up on what each other is doing and generally, for me, a time to gear myself up for the networking ahead. 

Its a simple short book with a lot of valuable info in it geared to new real estate investors. 

Otherwise, some book recommendations (these include mostly books on business/lifestyle or buy/hold investing):- "E-Myth Revisited" by Michael Gerber- "Cashflow Quadrant" by Robert Kiyosaki (further builds on the "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" foundation)- "Set for Life" by Scott Trench- "Long-Distance Real Estate Investing" by David Greene- "The Book on Managing Rental Properties' by Brandon Turner and Heather Turner- "The Miracle Morning" by Hal Elrod-"HOLD" by Gary Keller (geared toward SFR)-"The ABCs of Real Estate Investing" by Ken McElroy (geared toward commercial investing)"Multi-Family Millions" by David Lyndahl (This is on my list of "To-Reads".

Many people are gearing up and cheering for the end of the economic world and think they will automagically become zillionaires.  

Portland is gearing up to crack down on STRs, so I wouldn't bet on that plan for the long term.

This news article shows they are losing money on each flip, and based on the above metrics that seems to be the case. https://wolfstreet.com/2019/05/10/house-flipper-zillow-lost-109k-35-per-flip-net-loss-triples-shares-soar/Now they say they are shifting gears and slowing expansion.https://www.kmov.com/zillow-is-losing-millions-on-selling-homes-ceo-isn-t/article_3c33debd-fb28-53e3-b95a-23b8f679fcef.htmlSomeone is going to win Zillow or the Market - We shall see....Why Steve Eisman, Famed for Betting Against Sub-Prime Mortgages, Is Betting Against Zillowhttps://timandjulieharris.com/2019/08/29/why-steve-eisman-famed-for-betting-against-sub-prime-mortgages-is-betting-against-zillow.html

In fact, her entire brokerage is geared toward the total needs of out-of-state and overseas investors, from pre-acquisition services to PM to property disposition.There's one particular client in San Francisco that you should definitely talk to while you're doing your research.

The fact is that high appreciating assets will often be neutral of negatively geared and that can be risky.

@David Cole I think the worst motivated seller "horror" stories are the ones you gear up to buy and then they back out.