They are both great at learning the fundamentals.Also - here's a couple articles you might enjoy:The 21 Best Real Estate Investing Books Ever How to Rent Your House: The Definitive Step by Step GuideHow to Be a Landlord: Ten Tips for SuccessOh - and don't forget to set up your Keyword Alerts!

I have read a couple books and articles, browsed the forums and am listening to podcasts.

There are plenty more resources you can find under Education from how to's, blogs from our experts and podcasts.

You will find resources here from blogs to pod casts and forums.

I have always been very interested in personal finance and I used to follow couple of blogs and one day someone had mentioned about a real estate investing in one of the comments to a blog and that's when I started looking into real estate investing.

I've found that estate and probate lawyers have a wealth of articles explaining probate to potential clients so you should get a well rounded but basic understanding of probate and its terms in Illinois.

He writes for the Blog as well as posting in the forums. 

And, your downpayment if using a FHA loan would be 3.5% - I believe the terminology used for this strategy that I've read on BP is called "House Hacking" - Try to search and read some articles on BP about House Hacking as that may be an option you can utilize in your market.

Make sure to check out the podcasts, webinars, blogs and browse through the forums, they are all very resourceful.Wishing you great success!

You will find resources here from blogs to pod casts and forums.