Talk less and listen more.You can act as a referring agent and receive a fee if you don't want to act as a full time agent.Don't get involved into agency stuff (listing, selling, open houses, floor duty) this will only sap your time and energy from your real goal; making offers, making money, building your real estate empire and creating a giant net worth.

I had a 5-unit giant hacked up building in Milwaukee years ago.

That would also be a good opportunity to bring on an additional partner/investor if you don't just have a giant pile of money sitting around waiting to be spent.

I always go to a location/state specific mortgage broker, as "normal" banks with their onerous rules and, typically, very uneducated staff apparently are not able to work with my situation.

However, if you are not able to get a mortgage you will probably not have the credit score to qualify.I would highly recommend if you are looking to grow your capital you find someone you can work with the get started maybe you can start doing wholesaling and then use the profit to fund your new ventures with cash instead of credit.

(Assuming you have set aside proper reserves, of course).So the biggest risk is that you're not able to meet your mortgage payments, and lose the house because rents went down too much in a downturn, or you had too much turnover due to tenants losing their jobs etc.

I've been interested in real estate investing ever since hearing Gary Keller speak, and reading his book "The Millionaire Real Estate Investor." Out of college, I worked for a non-profit for roughly 2 years. Since the...

Most notably pride of ownership, reducing expenses, proper budgeting, seamless tenant relationships, debt management, and overall running a professional business of real estate investing?

Hey @Aaron Misiph,  If you're not able to do the work yourself I would start asking around for contractors that friends or family recommend.

Ive also mailed out letters to the land owners surrounding the property I was not able to personally talk to.