I'm an engineer who want to fix and flip houses on the side.

This way your broker will feel more comfortable with you being involved under the wing of an experienced agent.You'll do much better at investing when you have learned the ropes as an agent, you won't be chasing investor strategies but you'll be engineering your own methods and strategies as a situation calls for.Don't jump the gun in a career, keep learning and network as much as you can.

For example, use a laminate floor for houses under $175K and engineered on flips over that amount.

I am currently managing the development of a 24 unit apartment complex in Hoboken NJ and was wondering if anyone is familiar with Porcelanosa or Bison IP engineered flooring ?

It's interesting to think about the real estate investor who "only" makes $50K/year in passive income, vs the engineer who makes $100K/year.

I see from your profile that you are an engineer, so I know that you understand the math well enough to know that it's very possible to flip a coin on heads three or four times in a row (or more), but also, that's just luck.

I unfortunately dont have the benefit of being a full time rei as i now have a full time job as an engineer.

A general business degree, or at the top end a technical degree like industrial engineering.

From what I'm hearing, real cash flow takes a lot of units. 3-4 unit buildings are never going to be a big cash flow engine, especially relative the their capital needs and management overhead, at least until you can get significant rent increases from startup (which can take years.).

We used liquid cash, Heloc, and raised ...private capital to get the engine rolling.