I am new to the business of Real Estate and am truly excited to learn all I can on my path to financial freedom! 

So this would be a good spot for people to put in if they plan to paddle down to the brewery in the future.Future bike path.

We have a brokerage (Town 2 Country Realty, Inc) firm, if that is useful.Tony 

Is there an independent path to educate oneself and still be successful?

@Sean TaggeYou are on a great path, Sean.Please consider this:  Use direct mail to find your new acquisitions.Establish a consistant pipeline of deal flow through direct mail. 

Getting $30-70k per flip might work for big investor/flipper teams in the expensive markets, but here in flyover country, it just ain't so.Be prepared to do a ton of work, lots of hours, and be prepared to NOT BUY THAT HOUSE that you want, but the numbers don't work.  

we joined Success Path to learn about real estate investing and have been working on our education for about six months.

I'm eager to purchase something of my own now, but would require the larger loan/a conventional loan that may not be the ideal path. 

Some deposit rates are actually negative in several European countries including Switzerland.If I can get 4-4.5% AAA bonds I'm done with real estate and stocks for now and will buy those all day long!

Even that can be difficult, in my opinion, as it requires you get gross rents of about $1700/month, which is pretty high for many areas of the country, including yours I would wager.