Recently had an existential crisis and started looking for options to make my small amount of money work for me and build wealth to allow me to travel far and often while affording me a lifestyle that let's me deep dive into personal growth and be present and loving for my family and friends.

(I just bought 5 properties from a guy trying to get rid of his portfolio...the bank told me I could have whatever I want due to my credit score :D)Something I've found to be very helpful, like previous comments have noted, start diving into where you want to invest, and figuring out what strategy would work best for YOU and the MARKET that you choose.

It's not really worth it for you to go to all the extra risk and time spent if you aren't getting more per night or at least what you would get without the platform commissions.

Thinking of diving right in and opening a mom and pop brokerage, as I have been given an office space at no charge.

Thinking of diving right in and opening a mom and pop brokerage, as I have been given an office space at no charge.

It's pointless to do a lot of analysis and call people upfront only to realize you don't even have a deal tied up.Now having said that, as Joe said - you need to know your market very well so you know your property values and you should have a quick way to analyze the deal and make offers.I wrote exactly about this last night - how we got a 279-unit portfolio and tied it up quickly (even though we didn't have the T12 - trailing 12 months income) beating out other investors (and in fact, we ended up selling 173 units of that portfolio to other investors who got beaten out).

Time : have 9-5 now but that will soon change to 3 12 hour night shifts, so I will have the time.

My ocean front (long Beach, ca.) next door neighbor offered to sell me his townhouse last night.

You will do the most amount of volume here if you apply yourself, this approach will require that you work "full time", as well as nights and weekends. 

But, I also am of the opinion that if there is a strong rental market, and the company feels comfortable tailoring a rent guarantee based on the company’s tracked performance in the past, it can help the investor sleep at night.