I don't believe in unicorns but I know if I can get a profitable deal under my belt the domino effect of success will come.

A partner and I have 1 property/3 doors under our belt starting out, with a goal of acquiring another property by the end of the year.

You'll eventually get to the point where you can confidently pick up a property on CL without using an agent, but not until you've got quite a few deals under your belt and a solid team in place.Just as a learning experience for you as well as the edification of anyone reading this post, let's review what went wrong:1. 

I read somewhere that you need to have a certain amount of transactions under your belt before you can become a licensed broker...but maybe entering into an agreement to manage a property or set of properties for a landlord qualifies as a transaction?

Or maybe they are/were high priced remote salaried workers who were called back to the office or laid off as companies start to tighten their belts?

The main factor for moving forward with this was building experience by getting a property under my belt.

And that's exactly why flippers don't make the big bucks in the Rust Belt, and steer away from structures built in more than 40 years ago, with more standardized building practices.

I had to blow out my vents with a leaf blower.

For the most part even your sphere won't trust you until you have a few deals under your belt.

Then after I get a couple of deals under my belt, training up a VA to answer calls, cold call, and Administrative stuff while I am at my other job which would be another $600-800 a month.