There are numerous steps we can take to combat this lunacy.

I have read numerous books they have published along with many other sources of self-education on real estate and financial Independence.

I invest in notes and their used to be a guru who passed around JV agreements that were so bad they were breaking numerous federal laws.

Over the ten plus years between the Global Financial Crisis and the current health crisis, Retail underwent a radical transformation driven by the growth of e-commerce and many companies failed to evolve and took on too much debt, resulting in numerous bankruptcies and thousands of store closures.

You will need an investors agent, a property manager, a title company, numerous contractors as you should not trust a gc to do some types of work unless they are licensed in that, along with an accountant.That being said a good investors agent good also be a property manager and or contractor. 

I've done this numerous times.

Hello BP,After making numerous phone calls, I found a lender, BMO Harris who would do a HELOC at 89.9% LTV w/ no seasoning period as I recently did renovations to my primary residence and hasn't been a year.

Just got to get my feet wet.

There are numerous threads on which markets to invest in.

Many folks on here preach DONT WAIT INVEST NOW GET YOUR FEET WET, but patience is a virtue.