The best experience will be doing a deal and actually getting your feet wet. 

My broker is letting me do showings still which is great to get my feet wet

We are managing our buy & hold properties ourselves, so we’ve been buying close to home to get our feet wet.

For example one of my properties had a primary (3-floor) staircase, and I cordoned off the entire second floor to give the traveling RN their personal studio...with 'wet bar' min fridge, microwave, hot plate, etc.

That said, it is generating positive monthly cashflow and has "forced" me to get my feet wet / served as a personal proof of concept for out of state investment.I'm currently renting in a high-cost area of Sarasota, FL but am using my lease term as an opportunity to learn as much as I can about real estate investing to make as informed of a decision as possible about my next purchase.

It's worth it when your broker is giving you leads in conjunction with a hands-on education allowing you to get your feet wet.

That might be a good way to get your feet wet and see if you actually like it. 

That was appealing because the return is projected to be pretty phenomenal and would be a fun way to get my toes wet. 

I’m still grinding it out to get my feet wet in my first deal here in the Bay.

For example, often fire damage is water damage--they put the red stuff out with wet stuff.